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‘Consider our families’ – Montie trio cry out to Mahama

kencitymediagh
Aug 3, 2016
3 min read

Embattled Montie FM presenter, Salifu Maase, popularly known as Mugabe and two panelists who are serving four months jail term in Nsawam Prison have appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to consider their families in deciding whether or not to grant their petition for a pardon.

Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, were sentenced 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.

The trio called on the President to bear in mind the embarrassment their conduct and incarceration had caused their loved ones, and reverse what they described as “harsh and excessive” sentence.

“In petitioning Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, to exercise your prerogative of mercy, we humbly ask you also to please take into consideration the fact that we have young families who have been embarrassed and devastated by our unfortunate conduct and our subsequent incarceration,” they said.

They added that they had been “carried away” in their discussion on the ‘Pampaso’ show on Montie FM but had “never intended to harm anybody.”

Pressure has been mounted on the President from his party and from within his own government to pardon the three convicted persons.

A book, opened by a group calling itself the Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP), garnered several signatures including those of high-profile government officials including Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and the Education Minister, Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang.

Other notable people who signed the petition include the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, founder of the Ghana Freedom Party, Akua Donkor and an official at the presidency, Valerie Sawyerr.

The petition has since been presented to President Mahama.

Below is the Montie trio’s entire statement:

We made certain statements about the Honourable Chief Justice and some Justices of the Supreme Court which, after reflection, were most unfortunate and regrettable.
. We concede that the statements should not have been made at all, and, indeed, we never intended to harm anybody.
We, in subsequent broadcasts, expressed remorse and rendered unqualified apologies for our statements.
We CONTINUE to express remorse and apology for the statements we made.
We, the Petitioners, admitted our guilt FOR scandalizing the court, defying and lowering the authority of the court; and bringing the authority of the court into disrepute. And we apologized for our conduct, and pleaded for mercy and forgiveness. We also pleaded for leniency.
The court, however, convicted us and, despite our plea for leniency and obvious show of remorse, sentenced each of us to four (4) months imprisonment, together with a fine of GHc 10,000.00 each or in default a further term of 1 month.
We have since paid the fines and are currently serving our prison terms at the Nsawam Medium Security prison.
We admit that our statements were unguarded, but we plead that the sentence is harsh and excessive.
We humbly reiterate that we never intended to harm anybody.

We humbly petition Your Excellency, the President of the Republic, to exercise your prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. We are law-abiding citizens of this dear country of ours who were contributing to topical issues of the day, but, unfortunately, got carried away.

In petitioning Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, to exercise your prerogative of mercy, we humbly ask you also to please take into consideration the fact that we have young families who have been embarrassed and devastated by our unfortunate conduct and our subsequent incarceration.

Your humble Petitioners have been completely devastated by both the severity and harshness of the custodial sentences together with the fines.

Story By: Michael Creg Afful