Even though President John Mahama can pardon prisoners, the requirements outlined in the constitution for the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy authority have not been met in the case of the Montie 3 to merit their release, private legal practitioner, John Kumah, has cautioned.
For him, such an action would lead to a barrage of lawsuits at the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 72 of the constitution in relation to conditions under which discretionary powers can be exercised.
“Those powers are subject to the same constitution and the constitution tells you how and when you must exercise those powers. If the basis for the exercise of that power is so arbitrary, so unfair, biased, and discriminatory and so partisan, then the president will be setting a bad precedent for all of us,” he noted.
The three contemnors – Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe – were each handed a four-month jail term for scandalising the court and bringing its name into disrepute as well as issuing death threats against judges of the country’s highest court.
They have spent more than a week at the Nsawam Prisons as pressure mounts on Mr Mahama to grant them pardon. Several supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), including some ministers of state, have signed a petition to that end. The petition has been submitted to the seat of government for presidential action.
