Four NPP members take party to court

Koforidua (Eastern Region) -- Four members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Akuapem South constituency of the Eastern Region have filed a writ of perpetual injunction at the Koforidua High Court restraining the regional chairman, Nana Adi Ankama, the regional secretary, S.M. Ahyia together with Samuel Tinkorang and Eric Kwasi Amoah, Akuapem South constituency chairman and secretary respectively from holding the delegates conference of the Akuapem South constituency.

The plaintiffs Nana Amoako Oware, Samuel Kingsley-Nyinah, Ganiwu Lawal and S.O. Adarkwa said the regional chairman and regional secretary (1st and 2nd happy) were trying to stifle their efforts as they (plaintiffs) aspired to hold offices in the constituency.

According to the plaintiffs, they took the court action because the defendants, who hold responsible portfolios in the party, had sidelined them by not giving them enough time to also embark on campaigns as other contestants.

The writ read in part, “the 1st and 2nd defendants in their respective capacities have been supervising the constituency annual delegates conference of the various constituencies within the Eastern Region and it is in such capacities that they have been sued”.

The plaintiffs contended that Samuel Tenkorang and Eric Kwesi Amoah, who are seeking re-election for the positions of chairman and secretary respectively in the Akwapim South constituency, had hand-picked delegates to attend the delegates conference which was scheduled to have come off on Friday, November 1, 2002 at Kitase in Zone 6 of the Akwapim South constituency.

To this end, the plaintiffs have therefore claimed that the procedure adopted by Samuel Tenkorang and Eric Kwesi Amoah (3rd and 4th defendants) to select delegates to attend the constituency annual delegate conference to elect constituency officers among other functions was improper and contrary to the provisions of the NPP constitution.

Article 6 (14) of the NPP constitution states that, in every year at least four (4) weeks prior to the regional annual delegates conference, there shall be a constituency delegates conference which shall be attended by the following delegates; members of the constituency executive committee, the chairperson of each polling station executive committee.