'Montie gang' should take punishment 'as men' – Ursula Owusu
The Member of Parliament(MP) for Ablekuma West Constituency has urged three persons handed prison sentences for threatening judges to ‘serve their jail term as men.’
Ursula Owusu Ekufful said the essence of the punishment is to reform them and let them know that what they did was wrong.
Two panelists, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and show host, Salifu Maase of an Accra-based radio station, Montie FM were sentenced to four months' imprisonment by the Supreme Court on July 27, 2016.
The three being escorted by police after the judgement
This followed threats by the panelists, on a programe, ‘Pampaso’ to kill judges, with specific reference to Justice Sulemana Gbadegbe and Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.
The three were also fined 10,000 cedis each while the owner of the frequency of the radio station, Harry Zakour was fined 30,000 cedis.
Harry Zakour (Centre)
Directors of Network Broadcasting Company, operators of Montie FM - Edward Addo, Ato Ahwoi and Kwesi Kyei Atuah were fined 30,000 cedis by the court presided over by Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Their punishments have been greeted with mixed reactions as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) -of which the three are members, has publicly condemned the punishment as excessive and an attack on free speech.
Some angry NDC members besieged the party headquarters in Accra, to put pressure on leaders to call on President John Mahama to use his powers to grant the three pardon.
Some of the party members have held a vigil in solidarity with the trio and have signed petitions for their release.
In her submission on the Super Morning Show, Mrs. Ekufful said condoning the act encourages more of such dangerous phenomenon.
“And it wasn’t just a one-off, that was the consistent pattern of behaviour of this station, and they had done it to almost everybody they didn’t agree with in this country,” the MP stated.
With reference the chair of the panel which pronounced the judgement on the group, Justice Sophia Akuffo, Mrs. Ekufful urged the general public to refrain from targeting women occupying public positions.
On the same platform, the Second Vice Chairperson of the Progressive People’s Party condemned calls for the release of the trio.
Berlinda Bulley
Berlinda Bulley believes their release will fuel more of such comments and ‘this will set a very bad precedence."
The Convention Peoples' Party (CPP)'s Second Vice-Chairperson, Susan Adu Amankwah wished the trio were given heftier sentences.
Susan Adu Amankwah
“...For me [the punishment is too lenient]...I would have wished they had some six months, learned the lessons there, go to the prisons...see how bad our prisons are and maybe they would come back as advocates for the prisons and not want anybody else to go there,” she indicated.
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