Mahama will cause his ‘political death’ if he grants Montie 3 pardon – Baako

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Kweku Baako jnr has slammed members of the ruling NDC party petitioning President John Mahama to pardon the jailed trio in the Montie 3 saga.

According to him, the members by their petition is inviting the President into a political mine field which will be disastrous to the party barely four months to the general elections.

Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, a presenter on NDC affiliated radio station Montie FM and two panelists Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, who recently appeared on the Pampaso show, were found guilty of scandalizing the court, defying and lowering the authority of the Supreme Court and bringing it into disrepute.

The two on June 29, warned judges of Ghana’s highest court to be wary of their conduct in the case involving the Electoral Commission and Mr Abu Ramadan if they did not want to suffer the fate of the three members of the bench who were shot to death and burnt on June 30, 1982 in the era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

The Supreme Court last week handed a four months jail term each to the three men. They were additionally fined GHC 10,000 each.

The NDC has described the sentencing as harsh with party supporters mounting pressure on leaders of the party and President John Mahama to use his executive powers as enshrined in Article 72 of the constitution to grant the three jailed persons pardon.

Supporters of the NDC who believe the sentencing is harsh have mounted pressure on leaders of the party and President John Mahama to use his executive powers as enshrined in Article 72 of the constitution to grant the three jailed persons pardon. The supporters besieged the party Headquarters in Adabraka on Thursday, demanding the immediate release of the three, during which some supporters defaced President Mahama’s posters in anger.

A petition book opened to gather signatures to be presented to President Mahama seeking pardon for the trio has been signed by leading members of the NDC including ministers of state.

Speaking on Peace FM Wednesday, Kwaku Baako Jnr although has openly expressed his objection to custodial sentencing for persons found guilty of contempt of court, however stated that the petitioners are putting the President into a tight corner in the manner in which they are going about their actions.

“If the President should accede to this request he will live to regret his actions for a long time; that will amount to his political death. It will be politically ill-advised for the President to grant the pardon considering the contest of this matter. The whole exercise has been messed up by the way it was triggered. If you want to do this, create a critical mass of sympathy from people who you’ve worked with, or belong to your camp. That is therapeutic, it is helpful and it heals; they should continue with that but take out the pardon because it is inviting the President to enter a political mine field; it could amount to a political suicide.”