Wednesday, August 03, 2016

MINISTERS BLASTED OVER MONTIE 3 PETITION

By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Renowned author, Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo, has condemned ministers of state who are lining up to sign a petition to get President John Mahama to grant amnesty to the three National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists convicted for contempt by the Supreme Court last week.

Prof Aidoo, a poet, playwright and academic, singled out Education Minister Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang and the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, who have signed the petition, for bashing, describing their actions as unfortunate.

Outright Condemnation
The ministers and other appointees have set tongues wagging after it emerged that they were part of the group of NDC agitators signing a petition to get the President to release the convicts. And since then reputable civil society organizations, as well as, many people of substance, continue to condemn their actions unreservedly.

“It’s unfortunate that the petition was initiated at all, and even more unfortunate that it’s being signed by the likes of the Ministers of Education and of Gender, Children and Social Protection,” Prof. Aidoo said in a statement.

She added, “No one who is interested in Ghana as a wholesome space for all human beings, and especially for its young growing population, would want to sign this particular petition to the President of the Republic.

“In fact, and this is my petition to the president. He should join the whole of Ghana to take the opportunity of this rather unfortunate affair as a wake-up call. That threatening anybody with harm, rape, death or causing them injury in anyway, including slander, is just wrong.”

Prof Aidoo, who once served as Education Minister under the J.J. Rawlings administration said, “Threatening members of the Supreme Court with such violence is certainly not a crime that should be in anyway overlooked or pardoned.”

Nation Wreckers
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, preferred to describe those agitating for the release of the convicts as ‘nation wreckers.’

 “I think we should not interfere with what they [Justices] have done because once we do that we create a situation where we undermine one arm of government, because as soon as they come up with their judgment, somebody is going to appeal for an intervention which will not augur well for this nation,” he said.

Catholic Bishops
President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev. Joseph Osei Bonsu, urged President Mahama to uphold judicial independence and not succumb to pressure by his party members to set the convicts free.

“I think we will set a very dangerous precedent. This is not the first time people have been sentenced and if groups and individuals are going to appeal to the president every time a sentence is given, then there will be chaos in the country. So, I think we are setting a very bad precedent by this kind of pressure on the president because the Supreme Court has handed various sentences to many individuals in the past and I don’t see why in this case people are appealing to the president,” Prof. Emmanuel Martey wondered.

Peace Council’s Caution
Chairman of the National Peace Council and former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Rev. Prof Emmanuel Asante, said it was unfortunate for the NDC activists to pile pressure on the president to pardon the convicts.

Veteran lawyer Sam Okudzeto said the president and his NDC party will lose the election if he (president) succumbs to pressure to pardon the Montie FM gang who had threatened to murder judges.

“People have threatened to kill judges, which is a criminal offence, which is there in the criminal code and the Attorney General has not prosecuted them and he [President Mahama] wants to go and pardon? He should go ahead and pardon them because his party people want it, his party chairman said it, but as for me, I will not be a party to it.”

Killing 2nd Term Dream
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby aka Tarzan said President Mahama would be ‘killing’ his second term presidential bid, should he succumb to pressure and free the convicts.

 “I do not need to conjure my inherited DNA powers from Okomfo Anokye to predict that if the president were to act in the interest and name of the NDC, instead of the people of Ghana, it will sound the death knell for his second term ambition. It will also be the last gasp act of the 'gaping sycophants' who have trotted out to be seen publicly to be putting pressure on their boss to act unwisely. Yet I have this underlining feeling that all these folks who enjoy the V8 & S7 trappings of power will act so brazenly unless it is all part of a shambolic, coordinated act of which JDM is fully aware, and/or orchestrating from the comfort of the Flagstaff House,” he warned.

Ursula’s Counsel
Gender activist and NPP MP for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, who is the Chairperson for Social Development Committee in Parliament, descended on the female government appointees who had joined the crusade to get the president to free the convicts.

“We expected them to use this case as teachable moment to educate the public about women’s rights and rape as gender based violence which constitutes a heinous assault on physical, psychological and emotional well-being of victims. Instead they are leading the charge to pardon the convicts. This is indeed a sad day for women and the fight for women’s rights in Ghana,” she said.

CSOs Concern
Reputable Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have waded into the debate, asking the president to ignore the ministers and the party’s activists.

Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, expressed grave concern about the conduct of the government appointees in the matter, saying such acts fly in the face of the tenets of rule of law.

“The president is there to defend the national interest and I think the ministers, like the president, must also stop activism and represent the entire nation,” he told Joy News on the sidelines of the induction ceremony of the new Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana on Monday.

Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) was more concerned about the continuous failure of the criminal justice institutions to deal with such issues, pointing out that “the police, who have the responsibility for such matters, failed to act; and so did the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, whose remit is to safeguard the integrity of the Judiciary.”

Vulgar misuse of power
The CDD said in a statement yesterday that “If the president was to succumb to the pressure from the party and pro-government activists to exercise his power this way, it would represent the most vulgar misuse of executive power and, worse still, set a dangerous precedent. In a sense, it will institutionalize an already unfair practice of incumbent party sympathizers being treated differently before the law and by the state.”

CDD continued, “Montie FM and its owners are avowed NDC and Mahama administration supporters and promoters.  No matter the depth of sympathy for the individuals involved in the Montie case, this cannot be a constructive cure.    Moving forward, to arrest the gradual erosion of the democratic governance gains made under the 4th Republic, we need to examine the deficiencies that have allowed the 1992 Constitution to be understood and applied in this bizarre manner.”


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