2020 Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has broken her silence on issues surrounding the signing of a petition that led to the pardon of three NDC activists, later to be known as ‘Montie 3’, in 2016.
The petition informed a decision by then President John Dramani Mahama to grant then host Salifu Maase, popularly known as Mugabe, Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn pardon despite being convicted to a four-month imprisonment by the Supreme Court.
The three had charged on then justices of the apex court of Ghana, in the Abu Ramadan Vrs EC case, which questioned the legitimacy of voters who had used the NHIS cards to register.
The three were hosted on erstwhile Montie FM and threatened the justices prior to judgement on the case.
They threatened to kill them, reminding them of the 1982 killing of some high court judges.
After her nomination by former President as his running mate, Prof Opoku-Agyemang was accused by her opponents as endorsing attacks on women by her gesture of appending her signature to the petition.
The opponents, notably the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said the threats by the three activists of the NDC were targetted at the female justices, particularly then Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.
But in an interview on Cape Coast-based Live FM on Wednesday, July 29 as part of her tour of the Central Region, Prof Opoku-Agyemang said signing the petition did not mean she endorsed what the three said.
Speaking in Fante, she questioned if her critics closely listened to the audio that led to “our children” being charged for contempt.
“Those asking, I also want to ask them one or two questions,” she proposed.
“One, what our children said on radio, did they closely listen to it? Did they hear ‘rape’ in there.
“Secondly, what was the charge preferred by the court? Was it about rape? And the sentencing, how was it?
“Besides, no one went to court to truncate the case. The court was allowed to completely finish with its hearing and those of us who listened condemned the three and so asked them to beg until the process came to an end.
“So, we never interfered with the process. We allowed it to come to an end.”
Citing pardon given to several other convicts, the former Education Minister said the courts made provisions for “clemency” because of such similar scenarios.
“So if they say they have not heard it before, I want them to know it happens,” she stated.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang is on a three-day campaign tour of her home region, Central Region.
She began the tour on Tuesday, July 28 at her hometown Komenda, where she interacted with the chiefs and people.
On the second day, she visited the Paramount Chief of the Cape Coast Traditional Council after which she met the party’s parliamentary aspirants in the Region.
She ended Day 2 with the live radio interview.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana