Member of Parliament-elect for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has described as unfair, the president’s intended presidential pardon to his incarcerated predecessor Adamu Dramani Sakande who has been battling a cardiac problem ever since his imprisonment.
According to the deputy Minister of Education, similar concessions must be extended to ordinary Ghanaians languishing in jail rather than limit it to the elite in society.
The former MP was jailed two years after a court found him guilty of fraud.
The court ruled that he held dual citizenship as of the time he became MP.
Ghana’s 1992 Constitution bars Ghanaians with dual citizenship from holding public office.
The ex-MP’s wife and other NPP supporters blamed Mahama Ayariga for Adamu Dramani’s predicaments.
The two gentlemen were engaged in a hot political battle for the same seat but Mr. Ayariga denies he was behind Adamu Dramani’s incarceration.
Speaking in an interview on Breakfast XYZ, Mahama Ayariga stated that there is the need for Ghanaians occupying high public positions to be punished when they commit crimes.
“There is a law that runs this country and everybody must respect that law. Otherwise there is no justification for incarcerating those who stole fowls and serving prison terms,” Mr. Ayariga said.
“I will support the President if he is setting many prisoners free who have demonstrated that they have changed and willing to become law abiding citizens and would not infringe on the criminal laws of this country.
“It mustn’t just be that we politicians when we get incarcerated then we work our way through getting pardons and when the goat thief get incarcerated then he serves a full term that is injustice, that is systemic injustice”.
Source: GhanaWeb
