Former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Benjamin Kwasi Agordzo, who was acquitted on charges relating to abetment of high treason in the coup plot case tried under the former Attorney-General, has gone to press with a book on the working of the justice system.
Agordzo was among two that the Accra High Court discharged and acquitted after almost two years of trial, which saw him being forcibly retired from the police.
His 500-page book, "From Persecution to Freedom: Reflections on My Journey Through the Justice System in Ghana," gives a dramatic account of his odyssey through the justice system: his arrest, the dubious interrogation methods applied to him, trial, and subsequent acquittal. The book, comprising 28 chapters, goes ahead to make recommendations geared toward helping to better protect the rights of the accused.
Using vast experiences and research, Agordzo's book dwells on the endurance of a police officer who served 37 years with various appointments like Coordinator of National Elections Security Task Force.
The book was launched last Wednesday at Christ the King Church in Accra with the erudite statesman, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, presiding over the event; the first four copies sold for GHc 5,000 each.
At the launch, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe urged the general public to document their interaction with state institutions on the premise that such actions could compel reforms and represent useful history of the country for future generations.
Explaining the reasons for his decision to write the book, Agordzo said, "A story had to be told about a course of investigation that was seriously flawed, and, in fact, was intended to and did secure certain motives surrounding a coup trial." Further, Agordzo reiterated, "No true representation was ever made to capture the government. And this must have been clear to the presiding judge, who insisted upon my beginning an open defense against a charge where on examination it would have become fairly easily clear that the evidence against me was not considerable.". Agordzo said many of the innocents suffered imprisonment on flimsy grounds like this, too.
blogpay
