GBA condemns 2 radio panellists; One apologises, other denies making any statement
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to, as a matter of urgency, investigate, arrest and arraign two radio panellists who have threatened the lives of judges in the country.
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Reports have it that the two, Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, who spoke on an Accra-based radio station, Muntie FM, on June 29, 2016, allegedly threatened to unleash mayhem on Supreme Court and High Courts judges if they made any judgement against the Electoral Commission (EC).
The Supreme Court will, tomorrow, July 5, 2016, give the final verdict on the case between Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako (on one side) and the EC on the names of voters who registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.
In a statement issued in Accra and signed by the President of the GBA, Mr Benson Nutsukpui, the association also called on the Attorney-General to use her constitutional mandate to ensure that the gentlemen were prosecuted.
“The GBA has listened with shock and horror sound recordings from a talk show programme apparently held on Accra-based Muntie 100.1 FM during which Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, both panellists, made threats of harm or death to Supreme Court and High Court judges,” it said.
Fear in Judges
According to the statement, the language used by the two panellists was, particularly, clear and explicit and showed a clear intent to put the fear of harm or death in judges.
It said the association saw the threat also as a means to incite hatred among the public against the judges who were hearing the EC case on removing the names of voters who had registered with NHIS cards.
It described the words used by the two to be in obvious contempt of the Supreme Court as they sought to scandalise the court or otherwise lower its authority.
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“The GBA is shocked that the owners and proprietors of the said radio station do not appear to have taken any steps to sanction the panellists in the face of such unacceptable conduct and language,” the statement added.
The association, therefore, called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to investigate the matter and impose the necessary sanctions by law on the radio station and its owners.
Martyrs Day
Condemning the threats on the lives of judges, the GBA said the threat was even more painful to the legal profession because it was made on June 29, 2016, the eve of Martyrs Day, a day when the profession remembered the three High Court judges and a retired military officer who were kidnapped from their homes and murdered by agents of the state.
“It was, therefore, sickening and horrifying to hear these gentlemen referring to the murders of our martyrs with excitement, drawing parallels to it and claiming that they could also identify the homes of our judges today for the purpose of visiting them with violence, and saying things such as ‘when we finish them, then it will be over... they have to go. We will see them off to return to where they came from’. Such gruesome glorification of the bloody and dastardly acts of yesteryear and the current threat to our Judiciary cannot be tolerated or allowed under our present democratic dispensation,” it said.
Freedom of speech not absolute
It argued that although the Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and expression, which included freedom of the press and other media, such freedom was not absolute.
It said the public was not expected to use that freedom to endanger Ghana, encourage disrespect or incite hatred against any group of people or professionals.
The statement called on well-meaning Ghanaians to condemn the actions of the two gentlemen and the radio station to show that there was no room for such conduct and that Ghana would never allow those dark days to return.
“The Bar wishes finally to reiterate its position, as encapsulated in the National President’s speech at the 34th Remembrance Service held in memory of the martyred judges on June 30, 2016, ‘… assaults to the rule of law have not and should never manifest themselves in the horrific circumstances we have just reminded ourselves of’,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, reports have it that a recent survey conducted by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on the level of abusive language on the local radio stations in June named Muntie FM as the most abusive radio station in the country.
According to the MFWA, Muntie FM recorded the highest number (16) of indecent expressions mainly on its Pampaso programme within the month under review.
Apology
However, in a statement released on Saturday, Godwin Gunn said, "My attention has been drawn to a widely circulated statement issued by the Ghana Bar Association in which a call has been made for my arrest and prosecution. The basis for the call is that I made comments threatening to kill Supreme Court judges on a political discussion programme on Muntie FM on Wednesday, 29th June,2016.
"For the avoidance of doubt,I wish to place it on record that I did not participate in any political discussion programme on Muntie FM on the said date. Neither have I ever made comments threatening judges with death or any harm of any sort. The claim by the GBA is, therefore, false and the call for my arrest completely untenable. I, therefore, demand a retraction of the GBA statement and an apology for the harm done to my reputation."
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Background
In 2014, a former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and Evans Nimako won a suit in which the Supreme Court unanimously granted a perpetual injunction restraining the EC from using NHIS cards for voter registration.
The two were seeking true and proper interpretation of Article 42 of the Constitution in relation to the use of NHIS card as a proof of qualification to register as a voter pursuant to public elections.