{"id":243064,"date":"2016-08-26T06:04:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T06:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=243064"},"modified":"2016-08-26T06:04:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T06:04:35","slug":"montie-3-to-walk-free-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/montie-3-to-walk-free-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Montie 3 to walk free today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Friday, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, infamously referred to as the Montie Three will be released from prison after President John Mahama remitted their four-month prison sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The Montie three were <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/07\/27\/montie-panelists-mugabe-jailed-4-months\/\">imprisoned in July<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for criminal contempt of court after they threatened the lives of Supreme Court Justices on a live Montie FM radio programme.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;PEaT2BYGJTfiQUaXLcsdgQmOUz6OSeaj&#8221;]After their incarceration, two petitions were started and signed by top government officials and thousands of sympathisers in an attempt to compel President Mahama to exercise his prerogative of mercy powers per Article 72 of the constitution.<\/p>\n<p>President Mahama eventually <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/22\/mahama-pardons-montie-3\/\">exercised this power<\/a><\/strong><\/span> on Monday, August 22 following consultations with the Council of State.<\/p>\n<p>A statement signed by the Minister of Communications on Monday, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, said that the President had taken the decision to pardon the three on &#8216;compassionate grounds&#8217; given the remorse they had demonstrated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Montie 3 counsel grateful to Mahama<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the lawyers for the three, Edudzi Tamakloe said of their impending release to <strong>Citi News<\/strong>, \u201cWe are excited at the prospect of their coming. The expectations are very high\u2026 we are so thankful to the President and the good people of Ghana for the remission of their wrongs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_0167.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-236313\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_0167.jpg\" alt=\"Montie, Vigil\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a feeling of excitement and also sober reflection. Right from the time GBA issued their statement to the time we went to the courts, they have always demonstrated that apology and remorse and have taken steps to retract and apologise to the entire Judiciary,\u201d Lawyer Tamakloe added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pardon rendered Judiciary \u2018toothless\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s decision to pardon the three has however been met with scathing criticism with the general sentiment being, President Mahama has endorsed the conduct of the three and undermined the Judiciary.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_239893\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-239893\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Nduom-sign-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-239893\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Nduom-sign-1.jpg\" alt=\"PPP flagbearer, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom signing the counter-free Montie 3 petiton\" width=\"600\" height=\"663\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-239893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PPP flagbearer, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom signing the counter-free Montie 3 petiton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Progressive People\u2019s Party, which started a counter petition to keep the trio in Jail, described the President as <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/23\/montie-3-pardon-mahama-weak-for-bowing-to-pressure-ppp\/\">weak<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for bowing to pressure\u00a0from his National Democratic Congress (NDC)\u00a0to pardon the pro-NDC contemnors and said this decision was \u201cin bad faith and will remain a scar on our democratic credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The PPP also held that, \u201cBy exercising his powers per article 72 to pardon the three contemnors, the President has rendered the judicial services toothless and ineffective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mahama didn&#8217;t act in the interest of the State<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Joe Osei-Owusu, also said the pardon smacked of partisan activism.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Mahama-2-620x330.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-237573\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Mahama-2-620x330.png\" alt=\"Mahama-2-620x330\" width=\"603\" height=\"317\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRather than being a statesman, he has behaved like a party activist,\u201d Mr. Osei-Owusu has stated while\u00a0also describing the whole process leading up to the pardon as a \u201cruse\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Osei-Owusu, also a lawyer, acknowledged President Mahama had every right to exercise his prerogative of mercy per the constitution, but in this particular instance, he insisted that the President had not acted in the interest of the state.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Arguments in favor of pardon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Montie three\u2019s pardon came as one of Ghana&#8217;s most respected lawyers and a former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, asserted that the procedure used in jailing the three was\u00a0<span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/17\/jailing-of-montie-3-unconstitutional-martin-amidu\/\">unconstitutional<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_239950\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-239950\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Martin-Amidu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-239950\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Martin-Amidu.jpg\" alt=\"Martin Amidu\" width=\"600\" height=\"543\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-239950\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martin Amidu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The former AG also argued that, there was\u00a0<span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/17\/presidential-pardon-only-option-for-montie-3-martin-amidu\/\">nothing wrong<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0with calls for the President to exercise his prerogative power of mercy, in the case of the jailed Montie FM trio.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Debate over pardon needless &#8211; NDC<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia however said any debate over the\u00a0pardoning of the Montie 3\u00a0was\u00a0<span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/23\/debate-over-montie-3-pardon-needless-asiedu-nketia\/\">needless and misplaced<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0as the President had acted within the remit of his powers.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Asiedu Nketia also held that, the President needn\u2019t provide justification of his decision to pardon the Montie 3, despite the criticisms coming from political parties\u00a0and the general\u00a0public.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Montie 3 pardoned to attack NPP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson for Nana Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP),\u00a0Mustapha Hamid, suggested that President Mahama might have pardoned the Montie FM contemnors to &#8220;resume their insult attacks&#8221; on the opposition candidate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once they [Montie trio] are incarcerated, he [Mahama] is the one now leading the insult attack. He wants them out so they can come and take over from him so he can rest. They have said they were working on his behalf so now that they are not there, he\u2019s had to take up the insults himself. That\u2019s the reason he\u2019s [pardoned them],&#8221; Mustapha Hamid said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Friday, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, infamously referred to as the Montie Three will be released from prison after President John Mahama remitted their four-month prison sentence. The Montie three were imprisoned in July for criminal contempt of court after they threatened the lives of Supreme Court Justices on a live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":242126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Montie 3 to walk free today - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/montie-3-to-walk-free-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Montie 3 to walk free today - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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