Court adjourns Afoko’s case to Feb 16
The leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and their lawyers, on Wednesday failed to show up at the High Court hearing the case in which the suspended Chairman of the party, Mr Paul Afoko, is challenging the legality of his suspension.
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The party, however, wrote to the court asking for adjournment in the case in which the embattled chairman is seeking to overturn his suspension.
The court presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah granted the party’s plea and adjourned the case to February 16, 2016.
Mr Afoko had on November 18, 2015, expressed his intention to resort to court action on the grounds that his suspension, which was subsequently approved by the National Council of the NPP, was unconstitutional.
Mr Afoko and the party’s suspended Vice-Chairman, Mr Sammy Crabbe, were in court.
Statement of claim
The plaintiff said he was the National Chairman of the first defendant (NPP) having been duly elected by an overwhelming majority of votes at a national delegates’ congress of the NPP in Tamale in 2014.
He said the first defendant was a political party duly registered under the relevant laws of Ghana after satisfying all the requirements imposed on political parties by both the 1992 Constitution and the Political Parties Act.
According to him, the second defendant was the first National Vice Chairman of the first defendant, who was also duly elected into office by majority of votes at the national delegates’ congress of the party in Tamale in 2014.
Earlier intention
On November 17, 2015, Mr Afoko made known his intention to head for the law court to primarily defend and uphold the party’s constitution.
“I swore an oath at the Tamale National Delegates’ Congress to defend and uphold the constitution of the party to over 5,000 party delegates, members and supporters and this is exactly what I intend to do,” he stated.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic on November 13, 2015, on why he was heading for the law court after the National Council (NC) of the party had affirmed the decision to suspend him, he said: “I am not doing this for Paul Afoko but to ensure that the constitutional principles of the party are upheld and the sanctity of the party maintained for its current and future growth.”
The High Court in Accra on Wednesday dismissed a case challenging the jurisdiction of the NPP’s disciplinary committee to hear a petition against suspended party chairman, Mr Afoko.
The court, presided over by Justice Arkaah-Boafo, held that the application was premature because the plaintiff,
Oppong Kyekyeku, who is a member of the party, failed to exhaust party internal grievance resolution mechanisms before rushing to court.
Besides, he did not demonstrate capacity enough to initiate the case when he alleged a breach of natural justice against Paul Afoko on account of the party’s constitution being allegedly violated and yet failed to show how he (plaintiff) stood to suffer.
Similar case backfired
Mr Afoko’s suit comes on the heel of a similar one that was dismissed by the High Court on November 4, 2015, because in the opinion of the court, the plaintiff in the case, Mr Oppong Kyekyeku, failed to exhaust the party’s internal grievance resolution mechanisms before rushing to court.
The court also indicated that Mr Kyekyeku did not demonstrate capacity enough to initiate the case when he alleged a breach of natural justice against Paul Afoko on account of the party’s constitution being allegedly violated
But Mr Afoko went to the court after his suspension was unanimously endorsed by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on October 23, 2015, after the decision had earlier received endorsement from the party’s National Disciplinary Committee.
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