I NEARLY THREW MY SHOE AT JUDGES - MONTIE CONVICT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

One of the three National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists who were jailed by the Supreme Court for contempt has revealed that he wanted to do something grievous in the courtroom in the course of the sentencing, had his lawyer not restrained him.

Alistair Tairo Nelson, 41, said he wanted to throw his shoes at the judges and suffer the consequences, but his lawyer, Nana Ato Dadzie, restrained him.

“I knew they would jail us so I planned that when the sentence is finally passed, I would remove my sandals and hurl them at the judges and damn the consequence.

It was my lawyer Nana Ato Dadzie who advised me that the verdict is out and I didn’t need to do anything funny,” Alistair said on Okay FM yesterday.

Alistair, together with Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, the ‘Pampaso’ programme host on Montie FM and Godwin Ako Gunn, 39 (known as the Montie 3) were jailed four months with an additional fine of GH¢10,000 each by the Supreme Court for contempt.

They were also supposed to have been charged for threatening to kill judges if the court did not back off a case involving the Electoral Commission (EC), but the Attorney General refused to prosecute the case.

Just a month into the sentencing, President John Mahama, through Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution, ordered their release, sparking public outrage.

Alistair, who said he ‘learned’ a lot of lessons whilst in prison, said he later realized that there was nothing to gain in anger.

“It doesn’t take long for me to get angry but I had to start changing my attitude. I have to be extra cautious. It took this incarceration to reform me and to take my anger away,” he said, adding, “As it is if you slapped me, I would turn the other cheek for you.”

Describing how events unfolded after the sentencing, Alistair, who pleaded Kpokpoblibli as his defence during the trial, confirmed DAILY GUIDE’s story that they (Montie 3) were first taken to the Adentan police station, Accra, before being whisked away to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.

He said, “It was at Adentan police station I realized that there was nothing to gain in unnecessary anger. We were whisked at top speed to Nsawam immediately when the warrant was ready.”

He described the prison officers he met there as ‘serious’ in their work schedules, adding that they were ‘friendly.’

Alistair said there were a lot of inmates at Nsawam and posited that people who have very long sentences still had the belief that they would come out one day.

“Somebody has been jailed for over 200 years and even that person still has high hopes that he will come out one day and reunite with society and show an improved character,” he said, adding that the inmates gave them ‘positive encouragement.’

According to him, majority of the prisoners had turned into pastors and preachers and said as a result, he realized that God wanted to use him to change society for the better, though he was still in active politics.

 “There is a lot to learn from prison. People call it in ‘hard labour’ but I’ll call it the ‘institute of higher learning’. There is a strict disciplinary code for the inmates over there. There are leaders among the inmates who work with the wardens to instill discipline among the inmates. For safe custody, the Ghana Prisons Service is doing a good job,” Alistair noted.

He defended the prisons authorities vehemently over accusations that the officers steal donated items of the inmates. “It is never true that donations to prisoners are misappropriated by prison officers. They apply the donations under strict rules and regulations. The Prisons Service has one of the most rigid auditing systems in the country.

“That notion that they steal donated items should go away,” he charged.

He observed that local prisons are neglected saying, “I saw the big difference when we were relocated to Akuse Prisons.”