No serious president would free Montie 3 – Prof Karikari

The founder of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Professor Kwame Karikari, has urged President John Dramani Mahama not to heed to calls for him to pardon the two panelists, and the host of the 'Pampaso' show on Accra-based Montie FM, who were convicted  of contempt and jailed  by the Supreme Court.

Professor Karikari believes that President Mahama’s chances in the election somewhat hinges on the decision he makes on the Montie FM trio, and that sanctioning their release would be ‘politically suicidal.’

“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,” he told the media.

Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, were sentenced to serve four months in jail , after being found guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court, for threatening the lives of the judges who were presiding over a case on the credibility of the voters' register.

They are currently being held at the Nsawam prison.

The lawyers for the trio say they intend to  petition President Mahama   to pardon them, prompting the opening of a petition book yesterday [Thursday].

The book, opened by a group calling itself the Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP), has garnered several signatures including those of high-profile government officials including the Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and an official at the presidency, Valerie Sawyerr.

But Professor Karikari believes if President Mahama bows to the pressure being mounted on him to use his prerogative of mercy, it will send out a wrong signal to other media practitioners that they won’t be punished if they commit similar offences.

“If he does [release them], that he will be giving the orders to all the radio stations who will raise mayhem in this country. What he'll be saying is that, the radio stations can do as they please, court or no court. They can bastardize the courts, incite violence, threaten people's lives and even go ahead and get people to carry out the threats,” he added.

Some members of the NDC, who many believe the station sympathizes with,  on Thursday protested at the party's headquarters  requesting a Presidential pardon for the the three or risk losing their votes in the December polls.

‘Montie boys’ jailed and fined
The Montie FM trio, were also ordered to pay an amount of 10, 000 cedis each or risk serving an extra month in jail. The fines have since been paid.

The directors of the station , were also fined by the court for failing to prevent the incident on their platform. Network Broadcasting Limited, and Zeze Media, which owns the frequency on which Montie FM is broadcast, were fined Ghc30,000 each.

In presenting the sentences, the Presiding judge, Sophia Akuffo, stated that the two panelists had willfully attacked the Chief Justice and lowered the authority of the court by insisting that they will not accept its judgment on a controversial matter of the voter's register.

Montie 3 should have gotten 6-months
Meanwhile, a Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudjeto, has opined that the trio should have been handed a minimum of six months prison sentence.

He argued that the four-month prison sentence is not enough to serve as a deterrent to others.

“If I were there, I would have given them more than that because I am so worried about what I call irresponsibility that has almost crept into political arena whereby people use the television and radio as a platform for vulgar abuse, threats.That is not what the media is meant for and I think that a lot of characters that are appearing on television should not be allowed. The station itself should have been punished heavier for them to put down rules, the rules which says that when you come here no abuse, no insult.”

“I would have preferred to have given them at least six months and then ban them for a year or two to be of good behavior.”

Lawyer Sam Okudjeto also said it was immaterial that the three had apologized, saying the apology could not have undone the harm their utterances would have caused.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana