[ 2016-07-28 ]

Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare

Invoke Arcticle 72 to free Montie 3 - Law Professor tells Mahama
A Ghanaian Lawyer domiciled in the United States
of America, Prof Stephen Kweku Asare has not only
described the sentencing of Mugabe Maase, Alistair
Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn to four months in
prison each and a fine of GHC10,000 by the Supreme
Court as barbaric, but is also asking President
John Mahama to cure what he describes as
“Judiciary arbitrariness” by invoking his
powers under Article 72.

The court, chaired by Justice Sophia Akuffo also
fined Network Broadcasting GH30,000 to be paid by
Thursday or serve a one-month jail term.

Mugabe, Alistair and Ako Gunn were found guilty
of contempt charges by the Supreme Court for
making comments on Montie FM’s ‘Pampaso’
programme on Thursday, June 27, 2016, deemed to be
threats to the lives of the Supreme Court judges.

In a short piece posted on his Facebook page, the
US Professor described the court’s ruling as
“barbaric” and one that “completely
undermines executive power and the
Constitution.”

According to him, what the accused persons were
taken through by the Supreme Court does not
constitute fair trial because the judges were
their “own prosecutor, police, investigator,
juror and judge in a barbaric trial that has no
appellate process.”

Prof. Kweku Asare argued that Article 72 of the
Constitution was created to give the President of
Ghana powers to cure abuses. He, therefore, called
on President Mahama to invoke it to signal to the
judiciary that they cannot subvert the
Constitution - Article 72 of Ghana’s
Constitution states that;

72. (1) The President may, acting in consultation
with the Council of State ­

(a) grant to a person convicted of an offence a
pardon either free or subject to lawful
conditions; or

(b) grant to a person a respite, either
indefinite or for a specified period, from the
execution of punishment imposed on him for an
offence; or

(c) substitute a less severe form of punishment
for a punishment imposed on a person for an
offence; or

(d) remit the whole or part of a punishment
imposed on a person or of a penalty or forfeiture
otherwise due to Government on account of any
offence.

(2) Where a person is sentenced to death for an
offence, a written report of the case from the
trial judge or judges, together with such other
information derived from the record of the case or
elsewhere as may be necessary shall be submitted
to the President.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby
declared that a reference in this article to a
conviction or the imposition of a punishment,
penalty, sentence or forfeiture includes a
conviction or the imposition of a punishment,
penalty, sentence or forfeiture by a court-marital
or other military tribunal.

Below is the full text of what Prof. Kweku Asare
posted on his Facebook page

“The President must arrest this judicial
arbitrariness by invoking his power under Article
72.

The court’s barbaric posture, no doubt
motivated by the unconscionable comments of the
Muntie gang, completely undermines executive power
and the Constitution.

Even someone who commits mass murder is entitled
to a fair trial at a trial defended by competent
lawyers and guaranteed an appellate process.

It is abuse of judicial power for the court to
act as its own prosecutor, police, investigator,
juror and judge in a barbaric trial that has no
appellate process and that sends a man to jail for
4 months.

The pardon power was created to arrest such
abuses and the president must lead to send the
clearest signal to the Judiciary that they cannot
subvert the Constitution.

Da Yie!”

Source - Daily Post

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