NPP pleads for out of court settlement again

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has, for the second time, pleaded for an out of court settlement of a case in which an aspirant in the Kwesimintsim Constituency of the Western Region, Joseph Mensah, has put an injunction on the party not to conduct an election to elect a parliamentary candidate until the final determination of the case.

Considering the fact that an initial attempt by the party to settle the case failed, which compelled the aspirant to go back to court to continue the hearing of the substantive issue, the elephant party has a Herculean task, this time round, to ensure an amicable settlement.

Mr. Joseph Mensah is in court to challenge his disqualification from contesting the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kwesimintsim constituency, Mr. Joseph Baidoe Ansah, at the parliamentary primary organised by the party last year.

Prof. Mike Oquaye, Chairman of the NPP Legal Affairs, wrote a letter to the court, presided over by Justice Edward Asante-Amoako, to give the party one last chance to settle the case at home, which resulted in the court adjourning the case to May 31, 2016.

It would be recalled that the NPP, in its first attempt to settle the case at home, initiated talks with the aspirant, but the party failed to meet him as scheduled, which compelled him to return to court.

Following the breakdown in the settlement of the case, the Sekondi High Court resumed full hearing, after it had asked the parties to file their documents and witness statements.

The court had set three grounds for which it was going to consider in adjudicating the matter, “whether or not the aspirant was lawfully disqualified from contesting the race; whether or not he was a legible card-holding member of the NPP; and whether or not the aspirant, as a public servant, was legible to hold a party card.”

It, therefore, came as a surprise to persons monitoring proceedings of the court that the NPP had gone to court, seeking another out of court settlement, because both the opposition party and the aspirant had filed their documents in court, in readiness for the case to proceed.

In a related development, a youth group operating in the Kwesimintsim Constituency of the opposition NPP, has expressed displeasure over what it described as a grave unhealthy development, which has bedeviled the chances of the party to retain the parliamentary seat.

The group, known as ‘Youth for Nana Addo’, explained that their unhappiness with the recent development in the constituency stems from the failure of both the national and regional executives to act swiftly to save the NPP from disintegrating and loosing the parliamentary seat.

To the group, both the national and regional executives of the party have failed woefully to organise a primary to elect a parliamentary candidate for the constituency, in order to nip in the bud the unhealthy development currently going on.

They claimed that nominations were opened for interested persons to pick their forms, fill and return same for the election of a candidate for the constituency to commence, but because of the development, the primary could not come on.

Addressing a press conference over the weekend to state their position on what they described as an unhealthy development in the constituency, the leader of the group, Mr. Shadrach Ansong, told the press: “We have decided to organise this press conference to bring to the fore, the direction, or if you like, the handlings of issues in the Kwesimintsim Constituency of the NPP by the leaders, both at the national and the regional levels.

“We think it is just about time we tell leadership our peace of mind.” According to the group, though it supports Nana Addo as flagbearer of the NPP, “we are, nonetheless, saddened with the wrangling in the constituency, regarding the primary for the selection of a parliamentary candidate.

“Nominations are about to be opened for the submission of a party candidate by the EC for the 2016 general elections. “Yet, the Kwesimintsim constituency seems not to have no end in sight to this protracted court issue,” the group lamented.

One of the aspirants, Mr. Joseph Mensah, who was not happy with the circumstances leading to his disqualification from the race, filed a motion at the Sekondi High Court seeking it to place an injunction on the conduct of the election in the constituency.

The court, consequently went ahead to slap an injunction on the primary, warning the NPP and the Electoral Commission (EC), which are the first and second defendants in the case, not to conduct any election in the constituency until the final determination of the case.

Nonetheless, the Youth for Nana Addo says though they have been following the court case with regards to the disqualification of Mr. Joseph Mensah, the NPP seemed to be silent on the issue, as compared to other constituencies bedeviled with similar matters.

They mentioned the Klottey-Korley and Ablekuma constituencies as clear cases where the party’s national executives had acted swiftly to conduct elections in those areas, but same could not be said of the Kwesimintsim constituency.

The group questioned whether the two constituencies mentioned above are more important than Kwesimintsim. “This seemingly unconcerned attitude towards Kwesimintsim is hampering the efforts of the youth to work hard to win more votes for the party in November 2016.

“We are surprised that for all this while the party could not settle the case, and [the] Kwesimintsim constituency is still in limbo,” the group observed.

Noting that the NPP leadership may not be ready to resolve the court case for the party to conduct an election to select a parliamentary candidate for the area, the group said it has decided to remain calm, just to save the image of the party in the constituency.

“We are not here to throw our support to any of the candidates; all we want is a candidate to represent the party for total victory in November 2016.

“If the party continues to behave as an ostrich, as though nothing is at stake in the Kwesimintsim Constituency, then it is deceiving itself. We have been quiet for a long time, and it’s about time our voices are heard,” the group noted.