Amartey Quaye was one of the original seven members of the Provisional National Defence Council appointed after the military overthrow of the Limann government of the Third Republic of Ghana.
[2][3] During the hours of a night time curfew in force on 30 June 1982, three judges, Justices Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong, Fred Poku Sarkodee and Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and a retired army officer Major Sam Acquah were abducted from their homes.
All four had adjudicated on cases in which they had ordered the release of persons who had been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, during the rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which had also been led by Jerry Rawlings in 1979.
[5] Their work led to the recommendation that ten persons including two members of the PNDC, Amartey Quaye and Daniel Alolga Akata Pore be prosecuted.
[7] Amartey Quaye and four others, namely Lance Corporal Amedeka, Michael Senyah, Tekpor Hekli and Johnny Dzandu eventually faced trial and were convicted.