A few hours after being set free from the Akuse Prison in the Eastern Region on Friday morning, the Montie trio were given a rousing welcome at the Latebiokorshie offices of Montie FM where they declared to continue to “open fire” but “never again”, to go wayward.
Rather, they urged colleague media practitioners and commentators who appear on radio platforms to be circumspect in their utterances.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the host of the ‘Pampaso’ show on Accra-based Montie FM, Salifu Maase, alias ‘Mugabe’ expressed appreciation to President John Dramani Mahama for remitting their four months prison sentence.
“It looks like you have missed my voice, it has not changed”, he told the teeming crowd that gathered at the premises of the radio station which shares offices with Radio Gold and TV Gold.
Excited at the crowd that welcomed them, Maase said: “Now I can see about 1.9 million angels in the premises… This morning we were released after a month’s incarceration, first at Nsamwam and finally at the Akuse Prisons.”
“We give praise and thanks to the Almighty for keeping us safe during our imprisonment and giving hope to our wives and children for the strength to cope with us in this situation we find ourselves in.”
“We will like to take this opportunity to thank the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Mahama for graciously exercising his constitutional powers under Article 72 of the constitution in our favour in remitting the remaining custodial sentence imposed on us recently. We will also like to thank the Council of State profusely for their role in our release,” he added.
Apology
Maase reiterated their apology for their utterances that led them to jail. “Let us restate our sincerest apologies to Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, Justices of the Supreme Court and the bench in general for our unfortunate and regrettable conduct which was rightly condemned by all Ghanaians.”
He indicated that the past month has been a difficult one for them and that none of them will ever wish to find themselves anywhere near that situation again, ”never again and I say never again.”
“We have learnt our lesson and we will like to reiterate President Mahama’s call to our fellow media practitioners and all who appear on our platform to take a cue from what happened to us and be circumspect in our utterances.”
“We agree that we have a responsibility to our country to uphold peace in this election year and respect institutions of state. We will continue to practice our profession mindful of all this.”
“We thank the board and management of Network Broadcasting Company Limited (NBCL), our fellow workers, our lawyers, ZeZe Media and the many Ghanaians who found grace and mercy in their hearts to fight for and stand by us in our time of difficulty.”
“We will forever be indebted to you our fellow Ghanaians for your dedicated support for our petition to the President which has seen this fruitful result.”
“We thank the Prison officers for their care.”
President John Mahama on Monday granted remission to the three
Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase (Mugabe) were found guilty of scandalising the Supreme Court, defying and lowering its authority, and bringing it into disrepute and handed the custodial sentence plus a fine.
Background
Mr Gunn and Mr Nelson, who were panellists on the Pampaso show on Montie FM hosted by Mugabe threatened to kill judges of the apex court while discussing issues concerning the electoral register on June 29, 2016.
On Wednesday July 27, the Supreme Court of Ghana handed the jail term to the three convicts. Apart from the jail sentence, each of them was also fined a sum of GHC10,000. The owners of the station including Mr Harry Zakkour, who is also the second vice-chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress, as well as Mr Edward Addo, Ato Ahwoi, and Kwesi Kyei Atuah, were also fined GHC30,000 each. The owners were also asked by the Supreme Court to submit policy documents spelling out how to forestall similar happenings in the future. They were also asked to ensure that none of their media outlets was used to scandalise the court or bring it into disrepute.
Right after the sentencing, several groups and individuals started making arguments for the need for the president to free the trio. A group called Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) gathered signatures from citizens to support a petition presented to President John Mahama.
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