Court adjourns contempt suit to September 6

Accra, Aug. 29, GNA - An Accra Fast Track High Court on Wednesday adjourned to September 10 a contempt suit filed against Mr Napolean Kpoh, former General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Union. The court had earlier restrained Mr. Napoleon Kpoh, Secretary General and Ahmed Y.B. Salifu, National Chairman from holding themselves out as officers of the Union.

Mr C.K. Coka, Counsel for Mr Kpoh, prayed the court, presided over by Mr. Justice K.A. Ofori-Atta, to reject the contempt suit because it was incompetent and without any merit. He said so far as they were concerned there was no application of the suit before the court and that constituted the basis for their objection.

He said the conduct of the deponent rather smacked of contempt of Court and that, Mr Kpoh had not showed disrespect for the court. Mr Coka apologized to the court if the respondent might have gone against the court's orders to forgive them since this was done in good faith.

In a motion supported by an affidavit, Mr Albert Adaare, Counsel for the NEC, pleaded with the court to overrule the objection raised by the defence since the wrong labelling of the title of the suit should not be used by the court to muzzle the applicant. Mr Adaare said Mr Kpoh had not complied with the court order for the respondent to vacate his office and handover vehicles belonging to the union to the NEC. He said the respondent rather engaged the services of a carpenter to barricade the main door of the ICU, and this clearly showed that Mr Kpoh had no respect for the court order. Mr. Adaare also stated that the respondent had written to many banks not to allow the NEC to withdraw money to pay the workers. Earlier, Mr. Adaare said there was no need for the testimony of Kwame Sefa Kayi, a morning show host on Peace FM, who was at court to present a copy of an interview he had with Mr Kpoh in which he said he was still holding himself out as the General Secretary. However, Mr Egbert Fabaille, Counsel for the witness, asked the court to award a cost to his client for the inconvenience and cost of transportation. The court awarded a cost of one million cedis against the plaintiffs for the inconvenience and cost of transport. 29 Aug. 07