NPP congress in limbo…Set for court today

There was dejection written all over the face of the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP), Mr Peter Mac-Manu, after unsuccessfully explaining to Justice Jacob Boon of the Kumasi High Court II, the reasons for which he thought the interlocutory injunction filed by the former Asante Akim North Constituency Chairman should be quashed.

Peter Mac-Manu, NPP Chairman

High ranking members of the party in the region, in the company of some dye- in-wool supporters thronged the high court premises to render support to their various blocs as they prayed the court to either quash the interlocutory injunction or sustain it.

However, after carefully listening to arguments from counsels of the plaintiff and the defendants, Justice Jacob Boon, obviously showing that he wanted peace to prevail in the NPP, pleaded with both sides to allow him a day or two to read further on the subject matter so that he can rule on the matter appropriately.

While counsel for the defendant, Sir Dennis Adjei, pleaded with the court to either rule on the issue or make them reappear on Thursday, January 27, 2010, for the ruling, counsel for the plaintiff, Owusu Sekyere, pleaded with the court to make them appear today.

Knowing that his plea, if taken by the judge, would greatly affect the party plans, Mr Peter Mac- Manu quickly walked forward from the front pew in which he sat and unsuccessfully tried to convince the court to make them appear yesterday, presumably with the intention that the regional congress would be organized any time the court sitting was over.

As it stands now the regional congress which was scheduled for yesterday, January 27th 2010, which was arrived at during a meeting of the National Executive Council in Accra, could not be held and now delegates and indeed all supporters of the party stand confused as to when they are going to exercise their franchise.

So far the Ashanti regional branch of the NPP is the only one in the country that has not held its regional delegate’s congress to elect officers to oversee the administration of the party in the next four years.

The congress, which was originally slated for November 15, 2009 could not come off due to some outstanding cases in some of the constituencies. These cases could not be settled amicably and therefore had to be settled in court.

Nana Adu Asabre, who sought the interlocutory injunction in a Kumasi high court, in a suit noted that 11 constituencies in the region had not completed their elections to pave way for the regional congress.

He therefore prayed the court to restrain the national and regional secretariat of the party from holding the regional congress until elections in the region was complete.

At the court on Wednesday, counsel for the defendant Sir Dennis Adjei argued that the request of the plaintiff had become mute with respect to time since the region would be left with just one constituency by the end of the day, and that the court should give them the chance to organize the regional congress.

He said the party would suffer irreparable damages if the congress was not held the following day and prayed the court not to allow someone’s individual interest to supersede that of the national interest.

The national congress, he noted, must be held atleast a month after the regional congress.

However, counsel for the plaintiff, Owusu Sekyere, also argued that the constitution of the party must not be ignored and that if the Asokwa Constituency which had not had its elections was left out of the regional congress, it meant about 50, 000 electorate there were being prevented from exercising their franchise.

STORY: FROM JAMES APPIAKORANG JNR., KUMASI