Montie 3 receive rousing welcome from jail (video)
A few hours after being set free from the Akuse Prison in the Eastern Region on Friday morning, the Montie trio were given a rousing welcome at the Latebiokorshie offices of Montie FM where they declared to continue to “open fire” but “never again”, to go wayward.
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Rather, they urged colleague media practitioners and commentators who appear on radio platforms to be circumspect in their utterances.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the host of the ‘Pampaso’ show on Accra-based Montie FM, Salifu Maase, expressed appreciation to President John Dramani Mahama for remitting their four months prison sentence.
“It looks like you have missed my voice, it has not changed”, he told the teeming crowd that gathered at the premises of the radio station which shares offices with Radio Gold and TV Gold.
Excited at the crowd that welcomed them, Maase said: “Now I can see about 1.9 million angels in the premises… This morning we were released after a month’s incarceration, first at Nsawam and finally at the Akuse Prisons.”
“We give praise and thanks to the Almighty for keeping us safe during our imprisonment and giving hope to our wives and children for the strength to cope with us in this situation we find ourselves in.”
“We will like to take this opportunity to thank the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Mahama for graciously exercising his constitutional powers under Article 72 of the constitution in our favour in remitting the remaining custodial sentence imposed on us recently. We will also like to thank the Council of State profusely for their role in our release,” he added.
Watch a video of the welcome ceremony here {youtube}sIGywbvqRmU{/youtube}
Apology
The three Maase (aka Mugabe), Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, were sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and a fine of GH¢10,000 each for contempt of court.
The three were sentenced on July 27, 2016 and served part of the prison sentences imposed on them also paid the GH¢10,000 fines.
They were released Friday morning following President Mahama’s remission of their prison sentence on Monday.
There were allegations that the trio were not in prison and had been moved from Nsawam to an unknown location.
In a radio interview on Thursday, one of their lawyers Mr Edudzi Tameklo confirmed they were not in Nsawam but declined to disclose where they had been taken to only for him to announce on Friday morning that they were at Akuse.
Maase in addressing suppoters after their release reiterated their apology for their utterances that led them to jail. “Let us restate our sincerest apologies to Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, Justices of the Supreme Court and the bench in general for our unfortunate and regrettable conduct which was rightly condemned by all Ghanaians.”
He indicated that the past month has been a difficult one for them and that none of them will ever wish to find themselves anywhere near that situation again, ”never again and I say never again.”
“We have learnt our lesson and we will like to reiterate President Mahama’s call to our fellow media practitioners and all who appear on our platform to take a cue from what happened to us and be circumspect in our utterances.”
“We agree that we have a responsibility to our country to uphold peace in this election year and respect institutions of state. We will continue to practice our profession mindful of all this.”
"We thank the board and management of Network Broadcasting Company Limited (NBCL), our fellow workers, our lawyers, ZeZe Media and the many Ghanaians who found grace and mercy in their hearts to fight for and stand by us in our time of difficulty."
"We will forever be indebted to you our fellow Ghanaians for your dedicated support for our petition to the President which has seen this fruitful result."
"We thank the Prison officers for their care."
President John Mahama on Monday granted remission to the three
Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase (Mugabe) were found guilty of scandalising the Supreme Court, defying and lowering its authority, and bringing it into disrepute and handed the custodial sentence plus a fine.
Background
Mr Gunn and Mr Nelson, who were panelists on the Pampaso show on Montie FM hosted by Mugabe threatened to kill judges of the apex court while discussing issues concerning Ghana's voters register on June 29, 2016.
On Wednesday July 27, the Supreme Court jailed.
After their sentencing, their supporters led by a group called Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) gathered signatures and sent a petition to President John Mahama for a pardon.
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Below are more pictures from the welcome ceremony. Pictures by EMMANUEL ASAMOAH ADDAI
