Montie FM panelists, host to face Supreme Court July 12

The fate of two political communicators who allegedly threatened the lives of judges of the superior court will be decided by the Supreme Court on July 12, 2016.

Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn have been ordered by the court to appear before it at 9:30 a.m. on the said date and explain why they should not be punished for their actions.

The owner of Montie FM, the radio station where the two panellists issued the alleged threats, and Salifu Masse, alias Mugabe, the host of the programme on which the comments were made, have also been ordered to appear before the apex court at the same time on the same date.

 In four different summons dated July 5, 2016 and signed by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, the apex court ordered Nelson, Gunn, Masse and Montie FM to come and defend themselves.

“You are hereby ordered to show cause why you should not be committed to prison for contempt of court for thereby: (a) scandalising the court, (b) defying and lowering the authority of this court and (c) bringing the authority of the court into disrepute,’’ the summons stated.

 Nelson and Ako Gunn

In the case of Nelson and Ako Gunn, their summons stated that on June 29, 2016, they allegedly made certain comments about the civil motion: Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako vs the Electoral Commission and Attorney-General, which was pending before the court.

“It has been alleged that as a panellist on the said programme, you threatened and scandalised this court in a manner which, if proven against you, would amount to contempt of this honourable court,” it stated.

Montie FM and Masse

The summons issued to Montie FM explained that “the two panellists ran commentary on the station owned by you in respect to the Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako vs the Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General’’.

“The panellists, allegedly spurred on by the host of the said programme, are alleged to have threatened and scandalised this court in a manner which, if proven against them, would amount to contempt of this honourable court,’’ the summons said.

Masse received a similar summons which said “the two panellists were spurred on by you, the host, on the said programme’’.

Alleged comments and apology

Nelson, 41, and Ako Gunn, 39, allegedly issued threats of harm or death on Supreme Court and High Court judges on June 29, 2016, the eve of the Martyrs Day commemoration.

Montie FM has, meanwhile, condemned the utterances and apologised to the Chief Justice and justices of the Supreme Court.

A statement signed by its General Manager, Mr Mutala Muhammad, and issued in Accra on Tuesday said: “The management condemns absolutely the said statements which it considers regrettable and dissociates itself from those statements.’’