New twist in Kwesimintsim NPP court case

The case in which an aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Kwesimintsim Constituency in the Western Region, Joseph Mensah, is challenging his purported disqualification from contesting the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Joseph Baidoe-Ansah, through a parliamentary primary has taken yet another dramatic legal dimension.

This time round, while the Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Edward Amoako-Asante, had fixed July 4, 2016 to commence hearing the case, the sitting MP, Joseph Baidoe-Ansah, who is not a party to the suit, has filed a different writ at an Accra High Court for an order of consolidation to fuse the case in which the disqualified aspirant is challenging his purported disqualification from the race to contest him (the sitting MP).

Sequel to this, the High Court in Accra has also given orders which read: ‘Upon hearing Godfred Yeboah Dame, counsel for and on behalf of the Defendant applicant herein, and Ezuichie Nwosu, counsel for and on behalf of the plaintiff/ respondent, it is hereby ordered that the suit entitled Hon Joe Baidoe-Ansah vrs NPP and Joseph Mensah vrs NPP & 1 Annor pending at High Court, Sekondi be and are hereby consolidated and are to be determined in Accra’.

Joseph Baidoe-Ansah is seeking for a declaration that in accordance with rules and regulations governing parliamentary primaries-2016, he (plaintiff) was the duly nominated candidate to contest the Kwesimintsim Constituency parliamentary primary on the ticket of the NPP.

As a result, the purported decision of the defendant (NPP) to organise a parliamentary primary in the constituency to include persons who have been disqualified by the defendant party itself, in accordance with its own rules, is arbitrary and unlawful, and violates respect for the rule of law and the 1992 Constitution.

For this reason, Baidoe-Ansah is seeking an order compelling the NPP to organise the parliamentary primary for the Kwesimintsim Constituency in accordance with democratic principles, and the rules and regulations of the party, as duly published and endorsed.

The Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Edward Asante-Amoako, who resumed sitting on the case, appraised counsel for both the plaintiff and defendant over the order for consolidation of the cases in Accra.

Counsel for the plaintiff in the case before the Sekondi High Court, Constantine Kudzidzi, told the court that he was taken aback, when, last Friday, his office was served with the order, leaving out the plaintiff who initiated the action before the Sekondi High Court.

Kudzidzi said so far as his knowledge of the law was concerned, the order was not binding on the Sekondi High Court. This is because, the order was issued by another High Court of the same competence, and that the Sekondi Court should go to hear the suit before it.

Constantine argued that it was only the Chief Justice who could cause a case to be transferred, and that he was ready for the case, in which his client, Joseph Mensah, was challenging his purported disqualification from contesting the sitting MP, Joseph Baidoe-Ansah.

Mr. Ekow Amua-Sekyi, Counsel for the NPP in the Sekondi case, drew the court’s attention that he was also not in the know about the order for consolidation of the case. He said, per the order, it was clear to him that his services as counsel for the party in the case before the Sekondi High Court were no longer needed.

As a result, he was writing to withdraw his services as counsel in the case. The sitting judge, therefore, adjourned the case to July 7, for hearing. Joseph Mensah has dragged the NPP party to court, challenging his purported disqualification from contesting the sitting MP through a primary.

The plaintiff, popularly known as Joe Mensah, who has the voting delegates on his side, believes the party was not fair in disqualifying him from the race, hence his decision to challenge his purported disqualification.

Currently, the Sekondi High Court has slapped an injunction on the party from organising any election in the constituency until the matter before it was determined. The court has set three areas it was going to consider in determining the case, after two failed attempts by the NPP to have the case settled at home amicably had failed.