Although President John Mahama acted within the provisions of the constitution to pardon the Montie trio, the pardon action will set an unnecessary precedent, private legal practitioner, John Ndebugri has said.
According to him, the president's decision to pardon the Montie trio might put pressure on successive governments to pardon persons who commit similar offences in future.
given the short length of the sentence given to the three, of which they had already served a month.
The trio, Salifu Maase aka 'Mugabe', Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, jailed four months each in July for making contemptous comments against the Supreme Court, were on Monday pardoned by the President Mahama on 'compassionate gorunds' after serving one month of their jail term.
In an interview on Citi FM's Eyewitness News Mr Ndebugri said, “As far as the legal and constitutional aspects of the action are concerned, I will not say that he acted improperly, especially as he has consulted with the Council of State. I have my doubts whether politically it has been correct for him to take the action he has taken. He has set a precedent, two of them in fact, and the future is unpredictable in that respect".
“The sentences were short; four months and they’ve already done one month, three months will soon come and they would have been out naturally. Once he [Mahama] has done this, in future, people who commit offences of that nature and are punished in the same manner, and plead with the president, it would appear that president would be duty-bound to give some consideration to the plea", Mr Ndebugre who is a former MP for Zebilla lamented.