Lawyer seeks interlocutory injunction to restrain Prez from pardoning Montie trio
The Supreme Court will, on October 11, 2016, hear an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain President John Dramani Mahama from pardoning the Montie trio until a suit challenging his prerogative authority is determined by the court.
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A legal practitioner, Mr Elikplim Agbemava, had, on August 15, 2016, filed a suit invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for a true and proper interpretation of articles 72 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution.
Counsel is asking the court to declare that the power of the President, in consultation with the Council of State, to grant pardon was 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”.
Interlocutory injunction
In an affidavit in support of his application for interlocutory injunction, Mr Agbemava is arguing that his action will be severely prejudiced should the President, in consultation with the Council of State, act on petitions submitted to him while the instant application is pending before the court.
Highlighting the grounds upon which the application for interlocutory injunction has been filed, the applicant says it will be “just and convenient for the interim injunction to be granted, since the nature and justice of the plaintiff’s case demands that the President, in consultation with the Council of State, stays action on all the petitions that have been submitted to his high office with regard to the three persons who were sentenced to a four-month term of imprisonment on July 27, 2016 for a pardon”.
Background
Mr Agbemava, in the substantive suit, is praying the court to declare that in the “supreme interest of the people of Ghana and for whose welfare the President’s prerogative of mercy is exercised and on a true and proper interpretation of articles 72 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution, the President and the Council of State shall exercise the prerogative of mercy in a judicial manner that assures the people of Ghana of some certainty, consistency and fairness in the processes that lead to the granting of pardons”.
He is further urging the court to declare that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 72 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution, the exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy ought to be governed by regulations that set out, in an open and transparent manner, the grounds and requirements for the submission and consideration of applications for pardon to ensure certainty, consistency and fairness in the processes that lead to the granting of pardons.
Bringing the action in his capacity as a citizen of Ghana, in consonance with articles 130 and 2 (1) (b) of the 1992 Constitution, counsel is asking the court to grant any other order it deems fit.
The Montie trio
The Supreme Court, on July 27, 2016, sent a strong warning to people who make irresponsible comments on media platforms by sentencing two radio panellists and a programme host to four months’ imprisonment each for scandalising the court.
The two panellists — Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn — and the host, Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe, were also to pay GH¢10,000 each or in default serve an additional one month in prison.
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).