[ 2016-07-28 ]

Jailing of Montie trio not an attack on media – GJA - See more at: http://citifm
The General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists
Association (GJA), David Agbanu, has cautioned
against conflating the judgment against the Montie
FM trio with an attack on the media and free
speech.

“The Supreme Court did not go after the Montie
three because they did something that is lawful.

The charges were read to them, they contested the
charges and they were finally jailed. We must be
careful not to confuse that with a media
attack,” he explained on Eyewitness News.

Mr. Agbanu’s comments followed the four-month
sentence given the host of the ‘Pampaso’
political show on Montie FM, Salifu Maase, alias
Mugabe, and the two panelists, Alistair Nelson and
Godwin Ako Gunn, after they were found guilty of
contempt.

The two panelists had threatened to kill judges of
the Supreme Court during one of the discussions on
the show.

The GJA General Secretary stated that, the trio
were punished simply because they fell foul of the
laws of the land and not because their freedom of
free speech was being stifled.

“The laws are supposed to be obeyed by everyone.
No one is above the law and we do know that when
you do things that infringe the laws of the
country, it is the law courts that deal with
it.”

“I am not sure the law courts were dealing with
them because they are media practitioners. They
were dealing with them because they were in
contempt of court.”

Mr. Agbanu noted that “we must be careful not to
criminalise speech and we must also be reminded of
the fight that the media waged to get the kind of
freedom that they have.”

However, he maintained that, the Montie three
“played into the hands of the Judiciary and the
Judiciary exacted its pound of flesh… We
shouldn’t have gotten to this position at all.
It was unnecessary, it was uncalled for.”

What the judges said in their verdict

According to Citi News’ Fred Djabanor, the
Presiding judge, Sophia Akuffo, reading the
sentences said the two panelists wilfully attacked
the Chief Justice and lowered the authority of the
court by insisting that they will not accept its
judgment on a controversial matter of the
voter’s register.

She also said they also callously reminded the
court of the gruesome murder of three High Court
judges more than 30 years ago.

She pointed out that there is an element of
criminality in their utterances which the
Attorney-General should have noticed and acted
upon.

Justice Akuffo asserted that the court is
deserving of utmost respect if the country’s
democracy is to be safeguarded, and that any
conduct that seeks to interfere with the judiciary
is an act against the community.

According to the Judge, for a very long time, the
judiciary has been attacked verbally and
viciously, but they remained quiet. She explained
that it was not their intent to be punishing
people anyhow, but they just want to use this as a
caution.

Source - citifmonline.com

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