Paul Afoko withdraws Kwabena Agyapong as witness
The legal battle between the suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Paul Afoko, and the party took a new twist on Thursday when Afoko’s legal team withdrew Mr Kwabena Agyapong, the suspended General Secretary of the party, as a witness.
Advertisement
Mr Agyapong was supposed to testify as a witness for Mr Afoko, but that could not happen as lead counsel for Mr Afoko, Mr Sarfo Buabeng, informed the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court that Mr Agyapong was unavailable.
“Our witness is unavailable and as such this marks the end of the plaintiff’s case,’’ he said.
In view of the development, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah, ordered that Mr Agyapong’s statements be expunged from the court’s records.
With the plaintiff bringing its case to a close, the court adjourned the case to June 24, 2016 for the NPP to open its defence.
Cross-examination
Earlier, the NPP had ended its cross-examination of Mr Afoko’s first witness, Mr Martin Kpebu.
Mr Kpebu was the lawyer who represented Mr Afoko during the deliberations of the party’s disciplinary committee (DC) which led to the suspension.
Lead counsel for the NPP, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, asked him whether he applied for proceedings of the DC meetings.
Other Trending Stories
Mr Kpebu replied in the negative, pointing out that the DC was only a quasi-judicial committee whose decisions were not binding on any member of the NPP.
“The DC has broad powers to make findings and recommendations for the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to rely on for decisions,” he asserted.
Background
The NPP suspended Mr Afoko, Mr Agyapong and the Second National Vice-Chairman of the party, Mr Sammy Crabbe, last year after petitions by some members of the party that they had violated the party’s constitution.
Mr Crabbe and Mr Afoko filed separate suits at the High Court claiming that their suspension violated the NPP’s constitution.
Mr Crabbe’s case was, however, dismissed by the court on June 2, 2016.