Court Okays Korle Klottey NPP Primaries

Nii Noi Nortey being carried shoulder high after the hearing

An Accra high court yesterday gave the green light to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Korle Klottey Constituency in Accra to organize its parliamentary primaries.

This was after the court, presided over by Justice K.A. Ofori Atta, had thrown out the motion for injunction aimed at stalling the election, over an allegation of fraud.

The plaintiffs – Juliana Briandt, George Attor Williams, Mary Crentsil and three others – had filed the motion at the court citing the NPP and Valentino Nii Noi Nortey as first and second defendants in the suit respectively. They were seeking a declaration that Nii Noi Nortey, the party's constituency chairman, who is contesting the seat with Lawyer Philip Addison, had presented a fake University of Ghana certificate to the party's Vetting Committee.

According to the plaintiffs,  Nii Noi Nortey acted fraudulently when he declared and submitted to the NPP as part of his forms for adoption as the party's parliamentary candidate for the 2016 general elections, that he held a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Political Science Degree (2^nd class upper division) awarded by the University of Ghana.

But Justice Ofori Atta in a ruling, dismissed the application after having listened to what he described as 'interesting arguments' by both parties.

He said the plaintiffs had failed to prove how they would be affected if the court did not grant the injunction.

Legal Gymnastics
Earlier, Egbert Faibille Jnr., counsel for the applicants, had prayed the court to strike out the statements of claim by the two defendants in the suit because they were not officially stamped.

He said the situation raised issues of revenue to the state, insisting that the defendants' action amounted to noncompliance and an attempt to rob the state.

Mr. Faibille said in that regard there was no case before the court.

Dennis Adjei Dwumoh, lawyer for the respondents, in a quick rebuttal, stated that the application was properly laid before the court.

He said the issue complained about by Mr. Fabille Jnr. was the work of the registrar and as such, the respondents could not be held responsible for any issue arising from that.

Garry Nimako Marfo, a member of the defence team, indicated that Mr. Faibille was engaging in legal gymnastics, adding that what he was doing was not the agenda for the day but to move the motion.

Mr. Faibille had, in moving the motion among others things, stated that the court ought to grant the injunction because the NPP was at risk losing the 2016 polls if the party allowed Nii Noi to contest the primaries.

Adjei Dwumoh, opposing the motion, said Mr. Faibille was trying to answer a political question by stating that if the candidate was allowed the party could lose the 2016 polls.

He said Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution does not include the allegation of fraud as grounds for disqualifying a candidate from contesting elections.

Okaikoi South
In a related development, an Accra high court has also dismissed an application brought against the NPP parliamentary primaries in the Okaikoi south constituency.

The plaintiffs had sought to prevent Ahmed Arthur from contesting the primaries over the allegation that he had also presented a fake certificate to the Vetting Committee.

Grounds      
Justice Bright Mensah, in a ruling, dismissed that motion on the grounds that on the balance of probability, the respondents (NPP, EC, Ahmed Arthur, others) would suffer greater hardship if the application for injunction was upheld.

He said the applicants had brought the suit against the wrong defendants instead of the 270 delegates of the party they should have sued.

Earlier, Yaw Owusu Addo, lawyer for the defendants/respondents, had argued that plaintiffs had not demonstrated sufficient interest; in that, they are not NPP members in good standing to be clothed with the power to bring the action before the court.

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 By: Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson