Sebastian R. Freiku
18 August 2008
Kumasi — HIS LORDSHIP Mr. Justice Frank Amoah, presiding over a Kumasi High Court has dismissed a motion brought against the Ashanti Regional Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and three other executives of the Kwabre West constituency.
The motion, filed by a former constituency chairman, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah and others, challenged the constitutionality of their removal from office as executives of the constituency.
The Plaintiff/applicant of the suit who were represented by lawyer Hansen Koduah also prayed the court for an order of Interim injunction of the defendants/respondents from interfering with the plaintiff's activities as legitimate constitutionally elected Executive members of the Kwabre West constituency, pending the final determination of a substantive case.
The Judge emphasized that it would be more convenient to allow the present administration to remain in office than to disturb it.
In dismissing the motion, the court emphasized that it had in an earlier application, as one of a series of motion and counter motions, refused to grant an application on notice in favour of the applicant after it had been misled into granting the same application ex-parte.
The Plaintiffs in the substantive case are seeking a declaration that the purported 'vote of no confidence' in them by the defendants on November 11, 2006, was unconstitutional and therefore inconsistent with or in contravention of Article 10 of the NPP Constitution.
They also claimed that the defendants had no constitutional mandate to convey the said emergency delegates' conference which voted them (plaintiffs) out of office and that the action was void and legally unwholesome.
The plaintiffs also sought a declaration of the court ot restore their positions as the legitimate constitutionally elected Executive members of the constituency.
The defendants per their Counsel, Sir Dennis Adjei, opposed the claims by the plaintiffs citing two reasons that there is bad blood between the plaintiffs and current executive members and that returning them (Plaintiffs) to office would not be prudent for the management of party affairs.
The other reason advanced by the defendants was that the plaintiffs had been removed from office since November 2006, when the new executives took over the executive functions without any interruption and that it would go to derail the smooth administration of the constituency secretariat if they were allowed to assume office.
Giving his ruling, Justice Amoah stated hat the 15 months the plaintiffs had been waiting while the defendants exercised the functions of constituency executives (constituency Chairperson, first and second vice Chairpersons) without any challenge, went to create the impression n that they (plaintiffs) had given some sort of legitimacy to their (defendants) status as de facto officers.
According to the court " the temporarily acquiescence has dealt a fatal blow to the plaintiffs application and that it would be a recipe for chaos and anarchy if it granted the application for an order of interim injunction and accordingly dismissed it without costs.
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