Four-Month Sentence For Montie 3 Was Harsh � Prez Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has defended his remission of the four-month sentence handed the Montie FM trio, saying he acted in the interest of Ghana; and in accordance with the Constitution.

The trio, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, Host of Montie FM’s Pampaso political show, were sentenced after they were found guilty of contempt charges for scandalizing the Supreme Court.
President Mahama told Paul Adom-Otchere, on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana show on Tuesday, that he also considered the four-month sentence as harsh for the crime committed especially when the contemnors had showed a lot of remorse for their condemnable actions.

“I 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.”

“When 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’t know what benefit it would have been to anybody the three extra months they would have served in prison; I don’t know.”