Kofi Adams Sued

Kofi Adams
The ambition of Kofi Adams becoming the national organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been threatened with a legal suit against his candidature.

One Yaw Osei Gyamfi whose membership of the NDC is being challenged, has also filed a suit at an Accra high court seeking to disqualify the man from contesting the position because he (Adams) was once suspended as the deputy general secretary of the party.

Plaintiff claims to also have evidence to the effect that he (Adams) acted in ways that violated the party's constitution.

He claimed to have already raised the issue with the National Executive Committee of the party by way of petition but that seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, prompting his latest decision to go to court to seek redress.

Issues
Gyamfi considered the silence of the party leadership on the matter an attempt to frustrate him from enforcing certain provisions of the NDC constitution.

He has therefore asked the court to interpret sessions of the party's constitution, including Articles 39, 40 (8 and 9) and 42 (1E).

Should the elections proceed with Kofi Adams as candidate, plaintiff averred, the party would incur greater loss having to reorganize the elections for the position of national organiser  'in the very unlikely event' that the Rawlings man is adjudged to be unqualified to contest for that position by the court.

Gyamfi has also offered to compensate the respondents in the case, including the party and affected candidate for any proven cost or loss that might be incurred by them incidental to the grant of his application, if it emerges that he had no locus to send the case to court.

Response
But Kofi Adams has ridiculed the suit, describing it as 'the joke of the century', insisting that he had never been suspended from the party.

'It's high time people who claim sometimes to be lawyers advised themselves and their clients', he said, responding to the issue on Joy FM.

He explained, 'I was only asked to step aside for an investigation to be done, which I did and the investigation came to an end and I was found not to have committed any crime and therefore reinstated with full benefits.

'Indeed, my allowances due me from the date of suspension have had to be paid and the party has gone into an arrangement with me and they have been paying that regularly so I don't understand where this is coming from.'

'It is frustration from people who feel that they have lost the position and therefore they are clinching on all straws available,' Kofi Adams noted and said confidently that 'it's not going to work.'

Twist
Interestingly, when the case came up for hearing yesterday, plaintiff and his lawyers called for an adjournment of the case which has been fixed for today.

'I'm currently speaking to you as deputy general secretary so if I don't qualify to hold an office, why am I holding the office of deputy general secretary?' he asked rhetorically, noting with emphasis, 'I was fully reinstated with all rights from the days of the suspension as if the suspension never happened.'

Aside that, he said 'The suspension was not a punishment because nobody did even any prima facie investigation on the matter before the action was taken; the action was taken that very day they allegedly received the so-called leaked tape.'

He wondered why his pursuers had not thought it wise to raise issues with his position as deputy general secretary which he claimed had enabled him to vote in the recently held elections of the party.

The Rawlings man declined to go into the issue of who could possibly be the brain behind Gyamfi's suit but left it for Ghanaians to speculate saying, 'Whoever is using these processes will fail.'

Lawyers for the party, including Kwadjoga Adawudu, have questioned the capacity in which plaintiff filed the case, challenging his membership of the NDC.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu