Court dismisses injunction application against NPP Tema East constituency election

The Tema High Court ‘A’ on Tuesday dismissed an application brought before it by some aggrieved New Patriotic Party (NPP) polling station executives to put an injunction on the Tema East constituency elections.

The court presided over by Mr Sebastian Adjei Frimpong, dismissing the application, said the court action was premature as the four plaintiffs did not make use of the party’s internal structures before heading to court.

The court however set March 15, 2018 to give the detailed reason for the dismissal of the application.

Hundreds of party members who thronged the court were disappointed at the outcome of the hearing and blamed the plaintiffs’ counsel Mr Eric Essuman Adu for doing a poor job as according to them, even though they provided him with copies of the petitions written to constituency, regional and national executives of the party, he failed to produce it to the court when requested by the judge.

Four of the aggrieved party members filed an injunction application against the constituency and regional chairmen for allegedly disqualifying about 500 of them from voting in the constituency elections.

But counsel for the defendants Mr Garry Nimaku, argued that plaintiffs should have sued the NPP as an entity and not individuals in the party.

Mr Nimaku stated that the NPP’s constitution has a grievance mechanism which must be exhausted before any member of the party could take a court action against it.

Mr Daniel Titus Glover, Tema East Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Transport, who was present at court expressed joy at the court’s decision.

Mr Glover however accused Mr Ismael Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, for masterminding the action in a bid to pave way for his nephew, Benjamin Ashitey to contest and win the next primaries towards the 2020 parliamentary elections.