The court, presided over by Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh, said the plaintiffs, Rexford Adjei Frimpong and Oppong Kyekyeku, failed to prove that they had the capacity to bring the action to court. In his view, the issue of capacity was fundamental, since the plaintiffs brought the action as NPP members. No Proof Of Membership The trial judge said in his verdict that counsel for the NPP had denied that the two were members of the party after they had failed to provide proof of their membership, even though their counsel, Eric Atieku, had stated that his clients would provide their membership cards to the court. According to the judge, the NPP as any political party, is an association of like- minded persons, and so for the applicants to seek to enforce the constitution of the party, they should provide proof of membership, adding that Only bona fide members of the NPP can sue to enforce the partys constitution. He stated further that unlike the national Constitution which empowers any citizen to go to court to enforce it (Constitution), only persons who are either founding members, patrons or members in good standing could bring an action to enforce the NPP constitution. In addition, he said plaintiffs counsel filed supplementary affidavits on September 25, 2014 but failed to provide proof that his clients had capacity and noted that where capacity is challenged, it has to be proved, no matter how strong a case is. The judge stated that once capacity had been challenged and the issue had not been addressed by the plaintiffs, the action must fail. Contradictory Claims Justice Logoh further stated that the plaintiffs had stated that the court was the proper place to interpret Article 12 A (2) of the NPP constitution, but they in another breath stated that they feared that the National Council would be bias. He said he found it difficult to appreciate their claim because Article 4 of the partys constitution had an elaborate procedure for aggrieved persons in the party and which committee was best suited to handle a particular matter. Furthermore, he observed that the letters allegedly sent to the Chairman of the party bordering on the issues the applicants were talking about did not indicate how the letter was sent and whether or not the party had actually received them. He stated that the plaintiffs had not indicated that they had exhausted all the processes put in place by the NPP constitution meant to resolve issues within the party before heading to court. He observed that the jurisdiction of the court was not properly invoked. Abuse Justice Logoh said the plaintiffs could not just rush to court at their convenience without taking advantage of the internal structures of the party and said even if they had capacity to bring an action, they would still have to prove that they had exhausted all avenues to seek redress before coming to court. However, Justice Logoh was of the view that the action of the plaintiffs could not be said to be frivolous and without merit as it raised some issues such as the mandate of the General Secretary and that of the National Council. The learned judge also observed that in matters bordering on the fixing of dates for presidential primaries, the mandate of the National Council supersedes whatever notices the General Secretary could give. Balance Of Convenience On the issue of the balance of convenience, the trial judge said it was the party and the nominees who stood to lose more if the injunction was placed, and noted that the party had invested time and resources towards the congress, which is due in two weeks time. He said the two had not shown that they are delegates, neither had they shown that they would lose anything in terms of finances or resources, if the party went to congress. Explaining further, he said granting the application would lead to chaos in the party because the damages would be so huge that nothing could adequately compensate for the loss and said he would dismiss the application. Godfred Yeboah Dame, Counsel for the NPP, asked for costs because the party had been dragged through needless litigation by persons who even failed to satisfy the court on the most fundamental of all points— their membership of the NPP. Mr Dame further stated that the industry of counsel should also attract the award of huge costs, but Eric Atieku prayed the court not to award costs against his clients in order not to scare some persons who would want to appear before it someday. The trial judge, however, went ahead to award costs of GH¢5,000 against the plaintiffs and said they needed to send a signal to others in similar circumstances. Members of the NPP team included Prof Mike Oquaye, Mike Oquaye Jnr, Nana Obiri Boahen, and Andy Appiah Kubi. First Vice Chairman of the NPP, Mr Freddie Blay, represented the NPP while other members of the party who were in court included former Minister for Education Youth and Sports, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, and former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Rashid Bawa.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 10:32:44 +0000
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