'I would have paid money to avoid prison'
Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Ken Kuranchie who was released from prison Thursday morning says he would have preferred paying money to avoid his 10-day prison experience.
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Nonetheless, he says the experience was worthy, as it has given him the opportunity to experience the “other side of Ghana.”
“If I was asked to pay to avoid experiencing this, I would have begged for money to avoid that experience,” he said in an interview on Accra-based radio station, Peace FM.
Mr Kuranchie gained his freedom after being found guilty of criminal contempt by the Supreme Court hearing the ongoing election petition.
His imprisonment witnessed outcries by his family and some members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who accused the Prisons Service of denying them the opportunity to visit him and shuffling him in and out of one prison to the other.
Public Relations Officer of the Prisons Service, DSP Courage Atsem explained Mr Kuranchie’s denial to visitors was because he had exceeded his visits’ quota and that his transfer from one prison to the other was for security purposes.
Free to walk
Mr Kuranchie said he was woken up at about 4:30 am by the prison officers to take his bath and get ready to go home.
Thinking he would have been allowed to go home on his own as was the norm, he was asked by prison officers where he would like to go because transport arrangements had been made for him.
“I told them I had a lot of things to do in town so they should take me to a friend’s place at Lapaz but they told me that for my own security they will take me to my office,” he narrated.
“I have never worried about my own security. I asked to make a call but I wasn’t allowed to call anybody. So I’m now at my office at Pig Farm doing some work,” he added.
Frightening experience
Mr Kuranchie’s incarceration has not been without controversies as family members and associates of the NPP complained about his continuous transfer from one prison to the other.
Narrating his experience, he admitted he was frightened at a point because he did not know why and where he was being transferred to.
He said at the Nsawam prison where he was first sent to together with Mr Stephen Atubiga, an NDC communication team member, who was also handed a three day sentence for the same offence, he was woken up by the prison officials at about 2:45am and was transported to the Ho prisons.
“At the Nsawam prison we received a very good welcome by other prisoners. We went to sleep until we were called at dawn that we were going to be sent to a safer place. We travelled all night and arrived at the Ho prison about 6am.”
“It was not comfortable moving and especially if it’s not at your will,” he added.
Defiant Ken
Mr Kuranchie was found guilty of criminal contempt by the nine-member panel hearing the ongoing election petition after he was summoned by the court to explain a publication in his Daily Searchlight newspaper.
He was summoned together with a member of the NDC communication team, Mr Stephen Atubiga who had also commented on the election petition which were found offensive by the court. He was later handed a three-day jail sentence after he apologised for his conduct.
On the other hand, Mr Kuranchie attempted to defend his publication and when given the opportunity to apologise, he proceeded to offer what the court termed as a conditional apology.
He was thus handed a ten-day jail term after the court had arrived at the decision that his publication was made with intent to defy the authority of the court and the due administration of justice.
On his release, Mr Kuranchie says he does not regret his confrontation with the Supreme Court.
“If I’m given the option again, I’ll do exactly the same thing,” adding that the Supreme Court needs to clarify its position on reportage which it took the Daily Guide on and commentary by Sammy Awuku.
By Jasmine Arku/Graphic.com.gh/Ghana
