GHANA OUTRAGE AT LAW DICTATOR KWAME NKRUMAH OUTDID HIMSELF LAST WEEK . 
HE NOT ONLY FLATLY REFUSED TO FREE THREE POLITICEL PRISONERS WHO 
HAD BEEN ACQUITTED BY GHANA'S HIGHEST COURT, BUT HE SUMMARILY FIRED 
THE JUDGE WHO HAD PRESIDED OVER THEIR TRIAL . THE DEFENDANTS, 
FIVE IN ALL, WERE CHARGED AITH TREASON AFTER NKRUMAH WAS WOUNDED 
IN THE SHOULDER BY A BOMB IN AN ATTEMPT ON HIS 
LIFE IN AUGUST 1962 . THE DICTATOR'S TAME PRESS HAD REPEATEDLY 
CONDEMNED THEM IN ADVANCE . BUT CHIEF JUSTICE SIR ARKU KORSAH, 
WHO HEADED THE THREE-MAN COURT, CHOSE TO IGNORE THE HINT . 
AT THE END OF A 51-DAY TRIAL, HE CONVICTED TWO OF 
THE ACCUSED, WHO WILL BE HANGED, BUT EXONERATED THE THREE TOP 
OFFICIALS WHO WERE CHARGED WITH MASTERMINDING THE CONSPIRACY . AMONG THE 
THREE : FORMER INFORMATION MINISTER TAWIA ADAMAFIO, 51, A LEFTWING, LONDON-EDUCATED 
LAWYER WHO HAD ONCE BEEN NKRUMAH'S CLOSEST CRONY . THE PROSECUTION 
CITED AS " EVIDENCE " THE FACT THAT ADAMAFIO HAD REFUSED 
TO SIT BESIDE THE PRESIDENT ON THE DAY THAT HE WAS 
TO BE KILLED AND CLAIMED THAT LATER, WHEN NKRUMAH LAY ON 
A HOSPITAL OPERATING TABLE, HE HAD TRIED TO ENGAGE HIM IN 
" WEARISOME ARGUMENT " IN ORDER, LITERALLY, TO TALK HIM TO 
DEATH . ALONG WITH THE OTHER DEFENDANTS A FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER 
AND A LEADER OF NKRUMAH'S RULING CONVENTION PEOPLE'S PARTY ADAMAFIO WAS 
FORMALLY " DISCHARGED " BY THE COURT . BUT THE TRIO 
WAS IMMEDIATELY BUNDLED BACK INTO THE CELLS . INTERIOR MINISTER KWAKU 
BOATENG CYNICALLY EXPLAINED THAT THE THREE PRISONERS' ACQUITTAL " WAS THE 
SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE JUDICIARY, NOT OF THE GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS 
THEREFORE NOT BOUND TO TAKE ANY COGNIZANCE OF IT . / 
ADAMAFIO AND HIS CO-DEFENDANTS WILL REMAIN IN JAIL UNDER A LAW 
THAT PERMITS THE GOVERNMENT TO DETAIN ANY CITIZEN FOR TEN YEARS 
WITHOUT TRIAL " IN ORDER TO PREVENT HIM FROM ACTING IN 
A MANNER PREJUDICIAL TO GHANA'S SECURITY . " LEAPING TO NKRUMAH'S 
DEFENSE, THE GHANAIAN TIMES RECALLED FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT'S 1937 ATTACK ON THE 
U.S . SUPREME COURT, ADDING : " WE CANNOT HAVE A 
WIG-AND-GOWN CANTETA WHILE ROME IS BURNING . THE NATION CANNOT BE 
BAMBOOZLED BY THE DIABOLIC INSINUATIONS AND ASPERSIONS OF A CONFUSED AND 
ANTAGONISTIC JUDICIARY . " NKRUMAH COMPLETED THE OUTRAGE WHEN, IN VIOLATION 
OF GHANA'S CONSTITUTION, HE SACKED SIR ARKU KORSAH, 69, A WIDELY 
RESPECTED JURIST WHO IN 1956 BECAME GHANA'S FIRST BLACK CHIEF JUSTICE 
. THE NEWS ASTONISHED EVEN GHANA'S CLOSE FRIENDS ABROAD . NOTING 
THAT EVEN SOUTH AFRICA ? S HIGH-HANDED PRIME MINISTER HENDRIK VERWOERD 
HAS NEVER INTERFERED WITH THE JUDICIARY, A SHOCKED BRITISH OFFICIAL SAID 
: " THIS IS THE STALINIST TECHNIQUE . / 