Montie 3 petition: NDC doesn’t respect rule of law – Casely Hayford

Anti corruption crusader, Sydney Casely Hayford has said the decision by some prominent members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to sign a petition for presidential pardon for the three Montie FM contemnors suggests that the party is lawless.

The three; Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, were sentenced to  four months in jail on Wednesday, after they were found guilty of contempt.

Some key figures within the NDC have since signed a petition book, which was opened at the premises of pro-government station Radio Gold to ostensibly pile pressure on President Mahama to free the trio.

But speaking on Citi FM's News Analysis Programme, the Big Issue, Casely Hayford questioned the basis on which some NDC officials are signing a petition to call for the release of three.

“I get the impression that the NDC really do not respect the rule of law as a party. These people who are agitating, and putting pressure on the President to intervene and have the three released are agitating to have them released on what basis? That they did not commit a grievous offence which should have them jailed or it is alright to have people to threaten that you will kill them and depend on your President to release you if you are caught or are they generally saying that the threat of death of the Chief Justice and a group of Superior Court justices is not a significantly-harsh-enough event for drastic actions to be taken in order to avoid this recurring event.”

“When the law makes a decision and it goes against party executives or party officials, the very political parties who are calling for rules of order and law to be put in place so that they will have a fair playing field are the very ones who go and support these recalcitrant young persons as if what they did was right so it sets the tone that there is a conflict and it throws both parties at each other,” he added.

He further stated that the court's judgement on the three is appropriate because it serves as a deterrent to others.

“We need to set examples of all of these persons to make sure that people respect what is being said and what is being handed down through the law courts so I fully agree that they are jailed. I am totally happy that the Supreme Court.”

Montie 3 are lucky
He believes the three were fortunate to have been sentenced to only four months since their actions, in his view, merited a stiffer punishment.

“If you threaten to kill somebody and end up going to jail for only four months I think you should count yourself lucky because you have become a society risk when you go round saying and doing things of that nature.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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