The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has welcomed the dismissal of a lawsuit which sort to challenge the processes that led to the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Paul Afoko.<\/p>\n
An Accra High Court on Wednesday dismissed the\u00a0suit brought against the NPP by a member of the party,\u00a0Oppong Kyekyeku.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kyekyeku had argued that the party\u2019s Disciplinary Committee did not have the power to hear a petition for the chairman\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”hE1n3tpKMF0Xxcm4mRBLnofQMYhoq4mB”]But the court dismissed the case upholding the argument of the NPP’s counsel that\u00a0Mr. Kyekyeku\u00a0failed to exhaust\u00a0the internal party structures to get his concerns addressed.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP\u2019s Council of Elders, C.K. Tedam, welcoming the decision of the court, has advised Paul Afoko to exhaust internal dispute resolution procedures before resorting to the court.<\/p>\n
“It goes without saying that Mr. Afoko should be advised to exhaust the internal remedies of the party every step of the appeal to the National Council which he is entitled to do.\u00a0It should be a good piece of advice to all members of the party that it is settled law that unless they proceed to exhaust all remedies provided under the party\u2019s constitution, they will fail in any Court of Law,” he added.<\/p>\n
Afoko appoints lawyer for NPP<\/strong><\/p>\n In a related development, the party\u00a0is angry with Paul Afoko for appointing a lawyer to represent the party in court on Wednesday in the case in which he is an interested party.<\/p>\n C.K. Tedam added that although the NPP\u2019s Constitutional and Legal Committee appointed Mr. Godfred Dame to represent them, \u201cincidentally…the Law Office of Mr. S.K Boafo appointed lawyers for the NPP from Kumasi on the written authority of Mr. Paul Afoko.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpts<\/b>\u00a0of the statement<\/strong><\/p>\n Firstly, why will Mr. Afoko force to appoint lawyers for the NPP when the Constitutional and Legal Committee has done so since 1992 when the party was formed?<\/p>\n Secondly, why will Afoko force to appoint such lawyers when the suit has been filed by someone who stated plainly that he had filed the suit solely to protect the interest of Mr. Afoko?<\/p>\n Thirdly, the world should know that the lawyers appointed by Mr. Afoko (S.K. Boafo & Co.) only filed an appearance and at the material time\u00a0failed\u00a0to file an Affidavit in opposition to the Plaintiff\u2019s Application for Injunction which was fixed to be heard on 27 October 2015. This was unprofessional, collusive strategy to allow an injunction to be obtained against a reputable party like the NPP in an unmeritorious suit and manner. The counter-instructions given by Prof. Oquaye and effected by Lawyer Dame saved the day. This is a very serious development.<\/p>\n Fourthly, why should Mr. Afoko force his way to intervene in the case when he knows clearly he has been suspended by the unanimous decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NPP?<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n