The Montie 3
The Supreme Court has set October 23, 2018 to commence the hearing of the case involving the three Montie FM panelists, who were pardoned by President John Mahama.
Lawyers for the three filed the consolidated memoranda of service on the orders of the apex court.
The court was expected to hear the case yesterday but failed to do so because three members of the seven-member panel were absent.
The court, presided over by Justice Sophia Adinyira, informed the lawyers that she could not fix a date to begin the hearing in the absence of her colleagues.
She noted that the court’s registrar did not inform them about the case earlier.
The court subsequently set October 23, 2018 to begin a definite hearing of the matter.
Consolidated Suit
The Supreme Court, in February last year, ordered the consolidation of the three separate suits challenging the constitutionality of the pardon granted the three Montie panelists- Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe by the former President John Dramani Mahama.
In the view of the seven-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Sophia Adinyira, with Justices Jones Dotse, AninYeboah, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, A.A. Benin, Yao Apau and Gabriel Pwamang assisting, the issues raised in the various suits were identical.
It took the lawyers more than a year to consolidate the suits to the chagrin of the justices.
The lawyers have since filed the memoranda of services, paving the way for the apex court to begin hearing the matter.
Jail
It would be recalled that the apex court in July 2016 sentenced Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe, host of “Pampaso” political programme on an Accra-based Montie FM and two other panelists who threatened the judges with death to four months’ imprisonment each for contempt of court.
The five-member panel of judges, presided over by Justice Sophia Akuffo, also ordered Mugabe and the other contemnors- Godwin Ako Gunn, 39, and Alistair Tairo Nelson, 41, both activists of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to pay a GH¢10,000 fine or in default serve another one month in jail.
Mugabe gave the panelists the opportunity to threaten the justices with death.
In addition, one of the panelists claimed he would allow a certain Nash of Mataheko to “marry” Chief Justice Georgina Wood.
Pardon
A desk was set up at the premises of Radio Gold, a sister station to Montie FM, to gather signatures from various people to mount pressure on then President Mahama to invoke the Pardon Clause in (Article 72) of the 1992 Constitution.
President Mahama eventually succumbed to the pressure and pardoned the ‘Montie 3’ as a result of pressure from NDC members, including ministers of state.
Nana Bediatuo, the plaintiff, is seeking a declaration that the President’s action at the time was unconstitutional.
He is also seeking an order to have the Montie 3 fully serve their sentences, among others.
By Gibril Abdul Razak