Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson has stated in her latest blog that the Montie 3 case “represented a whole group of people that the law had finally caught up with” and she is glad that such “people were being made to answer to the things they’ve said” in the name of free speech.

She has opined that the sentencing of radio presenter Salifu Maase alias Mugabe and his two panelists Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn could be what the five-member Supreme Court panel of judges are seeking to use to set as “an example to deter other possible offenders.”

Touching on the strong campaign by mostly NDC faithfuls for President Mahama to activate his executive power under Article 72 to pardon the convicted trio, Miss Forson wrote:

“I’m afraid that if the president uses his power to free these men it will make an already tense atmosphere worse.

“And could easily turn the country into a state of anarchy and that’s a recipe for disaster…

Read the full piece below:

To be honest when I heard about the three, radio presenter Salifu Maase alias Mugabe and his two panelists Alistair Tairo Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn being brought before the law for making contemptuous statements about the Court, I was happy.

Finally, some people were being forced to take responsibility for their words, praise God.

Now to be fair we can argue all we want about what they said, meant, and how the public perceived it, but that’s not the point of the piece and I’d rather not dwell on whether they’re innocent or not.

The thing is a lot of media houses seem to have become demigods with no form of accountability or responsibility in the things they say, and I stated this in my piece on who really runs Ghana here.

Let’s not pretend we’ve not listened to morning shows and heard how the presenters steer conversations; in competing for ratings they’ll say the most outrageous things to keep listeners tuned in.

And in the name of free speech they get away with it because the minute you attempt to call them to order they will cry for all to hear how their human rights are being infringed upon.

But having a right comes with a RESPONSIBILITY a key factor a lot of journalist seem to conveniently forget, and because of this don’t seem to care about what they say and the confusion, panic and tension they’re capable of creating among a people.

So for the 3 Montie FM presenter and panelist, they represented a whole group of people that the law had finally caught up with, and I was glad; not because of their guilt or innocence because that’s subject to debate, just glad that people were being made to answer to the things they’ve said.

However, when I heard their sentence after being found guilty I was a little surprised.

I don’t know too much about the law but for first time offenders I thought the judges would be a little merciful and get them off with a fine and warning if they showed remorse.

That would have been enough to wake the others up and get them to be more responsible especially since elections are just around the corner.

But not only were they asked to pay a heavy fine, but also sentenced to 4 months in jail.

Making several members of the ruling NDC who the radio station the people work are allegedly sympathetic to, very angry and calling it unfair.

Now it’s not uncommon for judges to sometimes give a sentence a little too high for a crime that’s seemingly not that deserving of it; in most cases it is just to set an example to deter other possible offenders. And this could be what the judges sought to do.

But in a country where nearly every decision is politically motivated, the lines are almost always blurred; and this is why I was a little surprised to read on several prominent people calling on the President to intervene.

The judiciary is supposed to operate independently of the President and to ask him to interfere in something like this will only be saying otherwise.

Yes, I get that people feel the ruling is too harsh and if anything at all, their lawyers and perhaps people interested in the case should be the ones appealing and calling for a sentence reduction, isn’t that how the law is supposed to work?

But to ask the president to interfere in something like this would be an insult to our judicial system and if anything at all create distrust between the people and judiciary.

After all, didn’t the same Supreme Court declare the ruling party as winners of the 2012 elections? So why now are we supposed to not have faith in their ruling?

If really the ruling party has issues with the judiciary it should let pressure groups and all the other organizations that act as a check on the government and how the country is run, deal with it; after all that’s what they’re created for.

I’m afraid that if the president uses his power to free these men it will make an already tense atmosphere worse.

And could easily turn the country into a state of anarchy and that’s a recipe for disaster.

Sometimes we have to remove our emotions from a situation, sit back and see the bigger picture; and in doing that will be able to make smart decisions based on a projected future result. And this goes to the ruling party and how they want to handle this situation.

There’s already an assumption that too many prominent people get away with crimes in this country because of all the “connections” they have and is probably why people are following this keenly.

People are eagerly waiting to see how this plays out, and like the show Survivors, this could be a huge deciding factor on how people vote in the upcoming elections.

As always I’m just going to be sitting here with my popcorn enjoying this like reality tv show…