Reverse remission for Montie trio. Lawyer asks Supreme Court

A legal practitioner, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has initiated a legal action seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court to reverse President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to remit the sentences of the Montie trio from four months to one month.

In his suit, Mr Tuah-Yeboah, who is the President of the Brong Ahafo Regional Branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), is seeking “an order of the apex court reversing the remission of the sentences and the said convicts made to serve the remaining prison terms’’.

He is arguing that the power of the President to exercise his prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution does not include “convictions for contempt arising from the inherent jurisdiction of the court under Article 126 (2) of the 1992 Constitution’’.

The lawyer is, therefore, seeking a declaration that “the power of the President to exercise prerogative of mercy is limited to criminal convictions and convictions from contempt proceedings initiated by the Attorney General only’’.

He is also seeking a declaration from the highest court of the land that the grant of remission for the trio who were serving sentences “by the court based on its own inherent jurisdiction under Article 126(2) of the 1992 Constitution for contempt is contrary to articles 72 and 296(c) of the 1992 Constitution and is, therefore, void and of no legal effect’’.

Remission 

After serving one month of their four-month jail terms for contempt, Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, a radio show host; Godwin Ako Gunn and Alistair Tairo Nelson, two political commentators, were set free.

Their freedom followed a remission of their sentences by President Mahama, in consultation with the Council of State, on August 22, 2016.

As a result of the remission, the three were released last Friday.

The decision by the President to remit their sentences followed a petition by the three contemnors for the First Gentleman  to exercise his prerogative of mercy granted under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution.

According to a statement signed by the Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, “the decision of the President to remit their sentences was on compassionate grounds”.

Another suit

The suit by Mr Tuah-Yeboah is not the only legal action pending in the Supreme Court with regard to the President’s power of prerogative of mercy in relation to the Montie trio.

Even before the President remitted the sentences of the trio, another legal practitioner, Mr Elikplim L. Agbemava, had initiated an action in the Supreme Court challenging the President’s power in exercising that prerogative of mercy.

The lawyer is arguing that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 72 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution, the power of the President, in consultation with the Council of State, to grant pardons is discretionary and not arbitrary or capricious.

He is also seeking a declaration that any decision by the President to grant or refuse a pardon is not “one to be made on the basis of the political question doctrine that can be made without reasons being given for the exercise of such power”.

Sentences

Maase, Ako-Gunn and Nelson were sentenced to four months’ imprisonment each by the Supreme Court on July 27, 2016 for scandalising the court. They were also fined GH¢10,000 each.

The two panellists, spurred on by Maase, threatened the lives of judges of the superior court, especially those who heard the case on the credibility of the country’s electoral roll filed by Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako against the Electoral Commission (EC).

The trio, together with the directors of Network Broadcasting Company Limited (NBCL), operators of Montie FM, the radio station where the comments were made, and ZeZe Media, owners of the station frequency, were on July 18, 2016 convicted for contempt of the apex court.

They were found guilty of scandalising the court, defying and lowering the authority of the court and bringing the name of the court into disrepute.

The court, however, did not sentence the trio for the threats of harm and death that they made against the judges, explaining that that constituted another matter for another branch of government to take action.

Operators of Montie FM

The gavel of the apex court also fell on the NBCL and ZeZe Media, as the two companies were fined GH¢30,000 each.

They were also ordered to present to the court how they intended to prevent the contemptuous act from being repeated.

Panellists

The Supreme Court explained in detail why it had decided to sentence each of the contemnors.

On Nelson and Gunn, it held that their comments were reckless and they failed to uphold any code of ethics and decorum.

“They were totally reckless and insensitive in their comments, as they were speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the murdered judges, a very painful day for most patriots in the country,’’ it said.