President John Mahama would be an ungrateful being if he refuses to cause the release of radio presenter Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe who has been jailed by the Supreme Court, New Patriotic Party Acting General Secretary John Boadu has said.
According to him, Mugabe has over the past one year been consistently doing the bidding of the President and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) by character assassinating political opponents, adding that it will be no surprise if President Mahama grants him pardon.
Two others Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, who were panelist on the Pampaso show hosted by Mugabe, were found guilty of scandalizing the court, defying and lowering the authority of the Supreme Court and bringing it into disrepute.
The two on June 29, warned judges of Ghana’s highest court to be wary of their conduct in the case involving the Electoral Commission and Mr Abu Ramadan if they did not want to suffer the fate of the three members of the bench who were shot to death and burnt on June 30, 1982 in the era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
The Supreme Court handed a four months jail term each to the three men. They were additionally fined GHC 10,000 each payable by Thursday July 28, which failure to pay will attract another one month imprisonment. The NDC party has since paid the fines.
Supporters of the NDC have mounted pressure on leaders of the party and President John Mahama to use his executive powers as enshrined in Article 72 of the constitution to grant the three jailed persons pardon. The supporters besieged the party Headquarters in Adabraka on Thursday, demanding the immediate release of the three, during which some supporters defaced President Mahama’s posters in anger.
National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kofi Portuphy has admitted to Kasapa FM that there is huge pressure on the National Executives to ensure the release of the trio.
Speaking on Peace FM Friday, John Boadu stated that the entire country is watching what action President Mahama will take on the issue.
“Mugabe has declared to the entire world that he came to Ghana from the UK purposely to work for Mahama and ensure that he wins the 2016 election. He has done the dirty job of the President by running down political opponents. Now that he’s in trouble the President must help him. The President can choose to go ahead and pardon Mugabe and the rest and we’ll see what will happen.”