The Supreme Court will today sentence the two Montie FM panelists, the host of the station’s Pampaso show, and the four owners of the station, who have been found guilty of contempt charges brought against them by the apex court.
At its second hearing of the suit last week, the accused persons who were largely remorseful apologized for the comments and said they would not recur.
Montie FM suit: Alistair Nelson blames ‘strange disease’ for outburst
[contextly_sidebar id=”KJJMHuO3N1O0IflCZSWcUSI0MaETTYXy”]During the last hearing, one of the panelists, accused of threatening the justices of the Supreme Court, Alistair Nelson, blamed his comments in which he and Godwin Ako Gunn, threatened to kill the judges to a disease called “kpokpogbligbli.”
According to him, “kpokpogbligbli is an unknown disease that takes over a person’s body and controls what he says and does.
Nelson made the rather weird confession when he appeared before the Supreme Court to explain why he and others should not be “committed to prison for contempt of court, for scandalizing the court, defying and lowering the authority of the court, and bringing the authority of the court into disrepute.”
According to Citi FM’s Fred Tettey Djabanor, Alistair apologized to judges saying he was under the influence of the ‘kpokpogbligbli’ disease.
The said disease, which is in the Ghanaian Ga dialect, is not widely known to many. He is said to have also stated that, the producers failed to give him the topics for discussion for the day hence his comments, adding that he was sorry and would not make such comments again.
On his part, the host of the show, Maase Salifu, popularly known as Mugabe, apologized for his comments, also adding that his producer fell ill and there was no one to control him in the studio.
Mugabe also stated that he regrets his comments and pleaded with the judges to forgive him as he has been a journalist of good repute for 15 years.
The owners of the station, Harry Zakour, Edward Addo, Kwasi Attuah and Kwaky Bram Larbi, who were in court, after they failed to appear on July 12, pleaded for mercy and said the act was regretful.
Lawyer for the owners of the station, Nana Ato Dadzie, also pleaded for mercy.
The Court issued a warrant for the owners of the station, host of the station’s ‘Pampaso’ programme, and the panelists, who threatened to kill judges over their handling of a case on the credibility of the voters’ register to appear before them to answer for contempt charges.
Justice Baffoe Bonnie recuses himself from the panel
Before last Monday’s hearing, another judge on the panel, Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie, recused himself from the case.
On the first day of hearing on July 12, the Chief Justice Georgina Wood and Justice Nasiru Sulemana Gbadegbe, stepped down from the case. Justice Bonnie pulled out of the case because of his family ties with one of the directors of Montie FM, Mr Baffoe Bonnie.
Offensive comments replayed in court
Also at Monday’s sitting, the judges replayed the tape of the threats issued by the panelists to the court, despite a plea from the lawyers of the accused not to do so.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana