The President of policy Think Tank Imani Ghana has accused the Ministers and other government officials who signed a petition seeking a presidential pardon for the jailed Montie FM trio, of endorsing ‘hooliganism.’
According to him the comments made by the three on the ‘Pampaso’ show on the Accra-based radio station were criminal and petitioning for their freedom was a sign of approval.
Speaking on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Franklin Cudjoe expressed his disappointment at the number of high-ranking officials who were signatories to the petition.
“I don’t understand why people want to praise banditry and hooliganism. My own worry is that, very educated persons as well [signed the petition]. I wouldn’t have bothered if some of the people who rose through the ranks from being footsoldiers had signed,” he said.
“To think that people who have been through schools, some world class education, would be jumping around signing worthless pieces of papers, claiming they want to free bandits, it’s worrying, exceedingly worrying.
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.
The trio reiterated their regret for their comments and called on the President to bear in mind the embarrassment their conduct and incarceration has caused their loved ones, in his consideration of the petition and reverse the “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.
President Mahama has been under intense from his party and from within his own government to pardon the three.
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.
That petition, and another from the trio’s lawyers and the owners of Montie FM have since been presented to President Mahama.
A counter petition book seeking the President’s dismissal of the earlier petitions has been opened by the Progressive Peaople’s Party (PPP) and signed by the party’s flagbearer Papa Kwesi Nduom.
