Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Details are emerging of how the three National Democratic Congress
(NDC) activists convicted for contempt by the Supreme Court now known as Montie
3 were whisked away to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison to start their
respective four month sentences.
The three Salifu Maase aka Mugabe
host of “Pampaso” political programme on an Accra-based Montie FM together with Godwin Ako Gunn, 39 and Alistair Tairo
Nelson, 41, apart from the four month sentence were ordered to pay a whopping
GH¢10,000 each as fines or in default serve an additional month in jail for
scandalizing the courts.
Alistair was said to have sobbed as they were carried to Nsawam.
The Journey
Immediately the five-member panel presided over by Justice Sophiah
B. Akuffo handed down the sentences, Mugabe, Ako Gunn and Allistair were
handcuffed and put in a police bullion van.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the
gang of three were first sent to Adentan Police Station, Accra to await the
warrant to Nsawam and when the Prisons authorities confirmed the arrival of the
detention warrants, they were driven straight to the prisons from Adentan.
At Nsawam they were searched thoroughly as the rules demand before
being admitted.
Sad Episode
While in the bullion van, the NDC convicts were said to have made
‘touching’ phone calls to their respective families, asking them to put their
personal effects and other belongings in safekeeping.
DAILY GUIDE sources said
Alistair appeared to sob while Ako-Gunn was in somber mood but Mugabe looked
shell-shocked and seemed frustrated at what had befallen him after boasting
that he was not afraid of prison.
Montie Owners
The apex court had
slapped Kwaku Kyei Attuah, Edward Addo, both
Directors and shareholders of Network
Broadcasting Limited operators of the station, lawyer Kwaku Bram-Larbi,
Secretary to the board of directors and Harry
Zakour, a vice Chairperson of the NDC and Zeze Media owners of the frequency
with a GH¢30,000 fine or in default be individually held liable.
The Network Broadcasting Limited parent company of Montie Fm and
Radio Gold was also fined GH¢30,000 bring the total amount of money to
GH¢90,000.
They had since paid the
GHC90,000 fine according to court sources.
Death Threats
Apart from scandalizing the courts, the
panel of judges was not happy with the Attorney General for refusing to press
criminal charges against the convicts when it was cleared that they had cross
the red line with death threats and criminal attack on judges particularly
Supreme Court justices.
Mugabe had told his panelists to ‘open fire’ on the Justices and
they in turn did so with threats of deaths in addition to allowing a certain
Nash of Mataheko to ‘marry’ Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.
The NDC communicators had threatened to kill the Justices sitting on
an election related case, thereby incurring the wrath of the Justices who cited
them for criminal contempt.
NDC Protest
Since
their cionviction, the NDC has been thrown into disarray with a call by party
footsoldiers and gurus for President John Mahama to veto the sentenses by
activing the perogative of mercy by freeing the convicts.
The
sentencing of the three have been condemned strongly by the ruling NDC who are
putting pressure on President Mahama to invoke Article 72 of the 1992
Constitution to release the convicts.
Lawyers
of the trio have already said they have petitioned the President to pardon the
convicts while a desk has been set up by the NDC at the premises of Radio Gold which also houses Montie FM to get as many signature as
possible to get the President to trigger Article 72 but other sections of the
public have said it will be suicidal for President Mahama to pardon the convicts
who threatened to take the lives of the Lord Justices.
The book,
opened by a group calling itself the Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP)
believed to have been formed by Felix Kwaky Ofosu, has received several
signatures including those of high-profile government officials including a
deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Tourism,
Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and an official at the
presidency, Valerie Sawyerr, who was a former deputy chief of staff.
Apart
from the signatures, some angry NDC members besieged the party headquarters in
Accra, Thursday to put pressure on leaders to call on President Mahama to use
his powers to grant pardon to the trio.
GIBA’s Caution
The
Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) meanwhile has asked its
members to Be ‘circumspect’when commenting on national issues.
“The
Supreme Court has sent a clear signal that within the freedom of expression
guaranteed under our constitution, there are lines that ought not to be crossed
and there is the need to make it universally unacceptable for anyone to engage
in such conduct.”
“We
will continue our engagements with various stakeholders such as the National
Media Commission, the Judiciary, Parliament, National Communications Authority,
and Ghana Journalists Association, to ensure the media remains free but the
industry is well regulated,”GIBA president Akwasi Agyeman, President said in a
statement.
GJA Warning
The
Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) cautioned the public not to interpret the
sentencing of the trio to mean an attack on media, press freedom, and free
speech.
GJA General Secretary Dave Etse Agbenu said after the sentencing
that“The Supreme Court did not go after the Montie three because they did
something that is lawful. The charges were read to them, they contested the
charges and they were finally jailed. We must be careful not to confuse that
with a media attack.”
“I am not sure the law courts
were dealing with them because they are media practitioners. They were dealing
with them because they were in contempt of court,” he added.
Expert’s Advice
Veteran Communications expert, Professor Kwame Karikari counseled
President Mahama not to accede to pressure to release the convicts since it
would send a dangerous signal and wreck his chances of retaining power in
December.
Professor Karikari who has been championing media and journalists’
rights through his Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for decades said “There’s
no serious president in a democracy that will cede to a call like that under
our circumstances. It will be politically suicidal for the president to accede
to the call of his party.”
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