Montie FM trio should have been jailed 2 years-Atta Akyea

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North Constituency in the Eastern Region, Samuel Attah Akyea, has expressed his dissatisfaction at the four months’ jail term the Supreme Court handed to two radio panelists and their host after they threatened to kill Supreme Court judges.

According to him, the Supreme Court was too lenient with the three contemnors looking at the veracity of their statements.

The two panellists— Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn—belong to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and host of the the radio show ‘Pampaso’, Salifu Maase, popularly called Mugabe, were jailed four months each Wednesday, after they were found guilty for issuing death threats to judges of the Supreme Court.

In addition, they were fined GH₵10,000 to be paid Thursday, or faced another one month jail term.

Owners of the station were all found guilty of contempt and they, too, were fined GH₵30,000, to be paid to the court by close of Thursday or faced a jail term of one month.

In her judgement, Justice Sophia Akuffo found the accused guilty for scandalizing the court, defying and lowering the authority of the court and bringing it into disrepute.

Speaking to Oman FM after the ruling of the Supreme Court, the MP, who is a Lawyer, said the court was balanced in its ruling saying, “He had wished that the court applied stiffer punishment by jailing each of them for two years.

"They should have been incarcerated for two years each for their action. That's my opinion.”

Atta Akyea, who expressed disgust at the conduct of the three accused persons, further believed the decision of the Supreme Court would serve as a deterrent to other talk show hosts and their panelists.

He charged media practitioners in the country to undertake what he described as self-cleansing in order to protect their image and the profession.

Background

Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, who were panelists on ‘Pampaso’, a political programme on Montie FM in Accra on June 29, warned judges of Ghana’s highest court to be wary of their conduct in the case involving the Electoral Commission and Mr Abu Ramadan, if they did not want to suffer the fate of the three members of the bench who were shot to death and burnt on June 30, 1982, in the era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

The Supreme Court had to adjourn the case to July 18 after the contemnors argued that they were not served with the writ until the morning of the hearing day, a position which was corroborated by the court registrar.

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