Trade and Industry Minister, Ekow Spio-Garbrah, is the latest to join the group of ministers and government appointees who are endorsing the call for the release of the three Montie FM (known as Montie 3) convicts from the Nsawam Medium Security Prison where they are serving four months each.
The three, Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, host of Montie FM’s ‘Pampaso’ afternoon political show, and two panelists – Godwin Ako Gunn and Alistair Nelson – were convicted on their own plea of guilty by the Supreme Court for contempt.
They had threatened to kill some of the justices of the Supreme Court and ‘rape’ the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, if war broke out in the country following a case the justices sat on in relation to the cleaning of the voter register.
A number of government officials, including Education Minister, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang; her deputy, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa; Minister of Tourism, Creative Art and Culture, Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare; Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Nana Oye Lithur; Presidential Staffer, Valerie Sawyerr; Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu and a host of others, made up of National Democratic Congress (NDC) faithful, have signed a petition to get President Mahama to invoke his power of ‘prerogative of mercy’ as enshrined in Article 72 of the country’s Constitution, to set the Montie 3 free.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the NDC, which national chairman, Kofi Portuphy, and other leading members of the party had described the sentence as harsh.
Even though Mr Spio-Garbrah was not seen at any of the petition signing sessions, he still found time during official working hours on Wednesday to visit the trio at the Nsawam Prison to donate some items for their upkeep.
A picture circulating on social media showed Spio in front of the prison gate in the company of his special assistant, Naziru Mohammed, a prison warden and another person, apparently posing for the cameras after the said donation.
That was hours after pro-NDC group, Research Advocacy Platform (RAP), had officially presented its petition – which it claimed to have the backing of over 180,000 signatories – to the office of the president and received by Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.
In the petition, which was signed by one Razak Abu, said to be convener of the group, it had been indicated, “It is the considered opinion of the signatories that the four months custodial sentence imposed on the three is excessive and has the potential to severely curtail rights to free speech, which is a fundamental right enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.”
Aside that, RAP insisted, “In a democracy, people should have the right to criticize judges. The power of contempt should be used to uphold the majesty and dignity of the court, only to the extent of enabling it to function effectively.”
To the members, “The contempt law in its current form contradicts the above principles,” a contradiction they said was further aggravated by the “controversial incarceration” of the trio whiles stressing the need for the review of the sentence.
That was a day after former Transport Minister, Dzivor Attivor – who was neck-deep in the controversial Smarrtys bus branding deal which saw her exit from government – had visited the convicts in prison and donated various food items to them.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu