NPP Primaries: Can Kojo Bamba's win be annulled? - What the law says

Kojo Fosu Boadu, popularly known as Kojo Bamba, won the vice-chairmanship race in the just-ended New Patriotic Party (NPP) national executives election, but his victory has drawn heavy public scrutiny after reports that he is an ex-convict and should have been disqualified.

Boadu, a former leader of a vigilante group linked to the NPP, Delta Force, topped the 13-candidate vice-chairmanship contest with 3,160 votes.

He beat the likes of former NPP National Organiser Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B), Nana Akomea, a former Managing Director of Intercity STC Coaches Limited and ex-Minister of State, and Dr Abdul-Hamid, a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and ex-Minister of Information, to the position.

Now, Kojo Bamba's past sins seem to threaten his impressive and breathtaking victory.

Kojo Bamba’s sins:

The Asokwa District Court in Kumasi in April 2017 convicted 13 members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) vigilante group known as Delta Force of various crimes.

They were convicted of 13 charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime, assault on a public officer, causing unlawful damage and preventing a public officer from performing his lawful duties.

In default of the fine, each of the convicts will spend 12 months in jail. They were also to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for one year or, in default, go to jail for 12 months.

The 13 were Kojo Bamba, who was then the leader of the Delta Force, Awal Sadat Abubakar, Abubakar Sadiq Abuhammed, Jamil Issa, Hamza Mohammed, Salu Issahak, Akwasi Owusu, Kwabena Owusu, Kofi Kyei, Eggya Boadi, Salu Yussif, Yussif Salu and Kwaku Awortwe.

NPP laws on qualification for a national executive position:

Section 5 of the revised New Patriotic Party constitution lists the conditions under which a member of the party could be disqualified from holding any position in the party.

One of these conditions is being an ex-convict for a specific crime.

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Below are the exact words of the NPP constitution:

“(1) A Member shall be disqualified from holding any office or contesting any election in the Party if such a member:

(a) is declared bankrupt under any law in Ghana;

(b) has been convicted and/or sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction in respect of any offence involving:

(i) high crime, high treason, treason or an offence involving the security of the State, dishonesty, fraud or moral turpitude;

(ii) any offence punishable by death or by a sentence of not less than ten (10) years, unless a period of ten years has elapsed after the serving of the sentence or the member has been granted a full pardon;

(iii) any offence relating to public elections.

(c) has been found by a report of a Commission or Committee of Enquiry to be either incompetent to hold public office, to have acquired assets unlawfully, defrauded the State, abused their office or acted against the interest of the State;

(d) is not qualified to be registered as a voter under any law relating to public elections;

(e) suffers from mental disability or adjudged a criminal lunatic;

(f) is a chief or is a public servant belonging to any of the services listed under Article 94(3)(b) of the 1992 Constitution;

(g) is not in good standing.”

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What the 1992 Constitution says:

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana directly touches on this matter, particularly Article 94, which sets out who is qualified to be a Member of Parliament.

Article 94(2)(c) states that:

“(2) A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he—

… (c) has been convicted—

(i) for high crime under this Constitution or high treason or treason or for an offence involving the security of the State, fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude; or

(ii) for any other offence punishable by death or by a sentence of not less than ten years; or

(iii) for an offence relating to, or connected with election under a law in force in Ghana at any time.”

One might argue that being elected as a Member of Parliament is different from holding a party position, but Article 55 of the Constitution resolves this.

Article 55(8) states, “A political party shall not have as a founding member, a leader or a member of its executives, a person who is not qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament or to hold any other public office.”

Do Kojo Bamba’s crimes meet the threshold for him to have been disqualified from the NPP?

The NPP 1st Vice Chairman-elect was convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime, assault on a public officer, causing unlawful damage and preventing a public officer from performing his lawful duties in 2017.

The question now is: do these crimes meet the threshold for an ex-convict, Kojo Bamba, to be disqualified from the NPP election?

Kojo Bamba was convicted in 2017, which means that it has not been more than 10 years since his conviction.

But can the crimes he committed be said to be a high crime, high treason, treason, or an offence involving the security of the State, fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude?

BAI/VPO

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