{"id":246274,"date":"2016-09-06T21:12:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T21:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=246274"},"modified":"2016-09-06T21:12:22","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T21:12:22","slug":"i-pardoned-montie-3-in-ghanas-interest-mahama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/i-pardoned-montie-3-in-ghanas-interest-mahama\/","title":{"rendered":"I pardoned Montie 3 in Ghana\u2019s interest \u2013 Mahama"},"content":{"rendered":"
President John Dramani Mahama has for the first time spoken about his use of Article 72, to remit<\/a><\/strong><\/span> the four-month sentence handed the Montie FM trio, saying he acted in the interest of Ghana; and in line with the Constitution.<\/p>\n Speaking to Paul Adom-Otchere, Host of Metro TV\u2019s Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday, the President said he also believes that the four-month sentence was harsh for the crime in question; and that the contemnors had showed ample remorse for their actions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the overriding consideration must be that, all arms of government must act constitutionally and I swore an oath on the 7th of January 2013 to abide by the Constitution and so every action I take must be in consonant with the Constitutional provisions. The young men were called before the Supreme Court for scandalizing the court and even before they were called before the court, they had shown remorse; they had apologized for what they said and before the court they apologized again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they were sentenced in mitigation they asked for mercy; apologized and retracted everything they said. And even after they were sentenced and left the court and went to prison; they still in written and verbal form expressed absolute regret for what they did. I don\u2019t know what benefit it would have been to anybody the three extra months they would have served in prison; I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n The trio, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, Host of Montie FM\u2019s Pampaso political show, were jailed <\/a><\/strong><\/span>after they were found guilty of contempt charges for threatening to eliminate or harm Supreme Court judges over their handling of a lawsuit on the credibility of the voters\u2019 register.<\/p>\n