ARREST NDC BOYS OVER DEATH THREATS ON JUDGES - GBA

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, July 4, 2016

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has prevailed on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, for the arrest and prosecution of two members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) communication team who had reportedly threatened to kill Supreme Court judges and their juniors.

Beside the call by the GBA for the prosecution of Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn - both NDC activists - snippets of information indicate that the two are going to be hauled before the Supreme Court to answer contempt of court charges.

Reports reaching DAILY GUIDE as at press time yesterday indicated that the two NDC goons had been arrested by operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). The arrest of the two followed the call by the GBA to the IGP to, as a matter of urgency, arrest the two radio panellists who threatened the lives of judges in the country.

The NDC activists tied their chilling comments to the celebration of the three murdered judges, asking the Supreme Court justices to learn from what befell their colleagues some 34 years ago.

Their beef with the judges was that the justices sat on the case against the Electoral Commission (EC) over the removal of the names of those who used the NHIS card as a form of national identification to get their names on the electoral roll – a position the NDC had been averse to.

Chilling Threat

Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn had appeared as panellists on a pro-NDC radio station, Muntie FM, a sister station of Radio Gold at Latebiokoshie, Accra, on a political talk show programme called ‘Pampaso,’ hosted by one Mugabe Maase. In the course of proceedings, Alistair Nelson threatened to kill the judges if the Supreme Court did not leave the Electoral Commission alone.

“I have told you that if this country should collapse, those who caused it will face our wrath. We shall start from their homes. Fortunately, God has cleared the way for us,” Alistair Nelson said, adding, “Those judges who are trying to stoke the fire, I know where all of them live. I know where the judges live in Accra, I know their quarters; I mean the Supreme Court judges.

“I also know the high court judges. Yes, I am telling you. God has a way of… If they like they should bring on something and it will start in their residence; I am telling you, in their neighbourhoods,” he claimed.

He continued, “When we finish with them then we shall close and come back to govern this country because they don’t have the nation at heart and we have to bid them farewell so that they go back to where they came from.

“They should sit there and think that because they are Supreme Court judges they can do what they want. They should know that the EC is insulated and Article 45 makes it very clear. You cannot do what you are doing.

“These judges we are talking about, what have been their contributions to Ghana’s development? Look at how your junior judges are taking bribes all over the place…taking goats and GH¢100 as bribes. You senior judges by this time all of you should have resigned because of what your juniors were doing. You are not even ashamed of yourselves.

“You can introduce a fight for us in this country. We are the youth and we won’t sit down for you to run down the country. You old people you are square pegs in round holes.”

GBA’s Concern

The GBA in a statement at the weekend signed by its president, Benson Nutsukpui, said it had “listened with shock and horror, sound recordings from a talk show programme ostensibly held on Accra-based Muntie 100.1 FM radio, during which some panellists - Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn - made threats of harm or of death to Supreme Court and High Court judges.”

GBA noted, “The language used by the said panellists was particularly clear and graphic, and showed a clear intent to put the fear of harm or death in our judges.

Those words were also meant to incite hatred among the public against the judges. The words used were in blatant contempt of the Supreme Court as they sought to scandalise the court or otherwise lower its authority.”

Tacit Endorsement

The GBA expressed shock that the owners of the station did not appear to have taken any steps to rid the station of panellists whose conducts were ‘unacceptable.’

“The Ghana Bar Association condemns the threats on the lives of judges in no uncertain terms. These threats are even more painful to the legal profession because they were ostensibly made on 29th June 2016, the eve of Martyrs’ Day, a day when the profession remembers - the three High Court Judges and a retired military officer - were kidnapped from their homes and murdered by agents of the state.

Memory Lane

It will be recalled that on June 30, 1982, three High Court judges, namely Justices Fred Poku Sarkodee, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong and a retired Military Officer, Sam Aqcuah, who was then Director of Personnel, Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC), were abducted and brutally murdered by elements of the  Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime - which metamorphosed into the ruling NDC - before setting their bodies on fire at the Bundanse Military Range on the Accra Plains.

According to the GBA, “It was therefore sickening and horrifying to hear these gentlemen referring to the murders of our Martyrs with excitement, drawing parallels to it, claiming that they could also identify the homes of our judges today for the purpose of visiting them with violence, and saying things such as ‘when we finish them, then it will be over... they have to go. We will see them off to return to where they came from.’"

It noted, “Such gruesome glorification of the bloody and dastardly acts of yesteryears and current threat to our judiciary cannot be tolerated or allowed under our present democratic dispensation. The constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and expression, which include freedom of the press and other media, are not absolute. Citizens are expected not to use that freedom to endanger Ghana, encourage disrespect for our nationhood, or incite hatred against members of the community.”

The GBA further called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to investigate the matter and find the appropriate sanctions for the radio station and its owners.

Agalga’s Assurance

As the debate ensues, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, James Agalga, has assured the judges of their safety and security, saying on Joy FM that “The security of our judges and all those who work in the Judiciary, we place a lot of premium on their security. We will not allow anybody to resort to any conduct which will compromise the security of our justices.”