{"id":234944,"date":"2016-07-28T14:41:57","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T14:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=234944"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T14:41:57","slug":"no-mugabe-no-vote-ndc-supporters-to-mahama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/07\/no-mugabe-no-vote-ndc-supporters-to-mahama\/","title":{"rendered":"No Mugabe, no vote – NDC supporters to Mahama"},"content":{"rendered":"
Some angry supporters of the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC), who thronged the party’s headquarters on Thursday, are demanding the release of Montie FM’s Mugabe, and the two panelists who have been sentenced to four months in prison, or risk losing their votes in the December polls.<\/p>\n
The supporters, numbering about 30, further called on President John Mahama to issue an executive order for the release of the three men.<\/p>\n
The reaction by the supporters follows a condemnation <\/a><\/strong><\/span>by the leadership of the party.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”I5vxIvNarLsizJ7UyIJYjZi8D02AL90C”]In a statement signed by its National Chairman, Kofi Poturphy on Wednesday, the NDC said “it has learned with utter shock, disbelief and dismay, the jailing of a journalist and two Ghanaian citizens by the Supreme Court of Ghana after contempt proceedings.<\/p>\n In the view of the party, \u201cThis judgment sends an unfortunate impression about Ghana, its judiciary and severely dents our enviable reputation as a beacon of democracy on the African continent and beyond. The judgement also may undermine our position among countries with the freest media in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The three, host of the station\u2019s ‘Pampaso’ political show, Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, and the two panelists, Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, were found guilty of contempt after threatening\u00a0to kill judges of the Supreme Court\u00a0during one of the discussions on the show.<\/p>\n A number of the irate party supporters who spoke to Citi News\u2019<\/strong> Franklin Badu Jnr on Thursday, echoed the sentiments of the likes of the Minster of Foreign Affairs, Hanna Tetteh, who has described\u00a0the sentence as being too harsh<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and that the judges should have exhibited some leniency.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my view, the sentence is too harsh\u2026 it is as if we are putting some fear of God into the media.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that the statement was not good at all. Look at the big people who have apologized for this. At least they should have also had sympathy,\u201d one of the supporters said.<\/p>\n