Court dismisses case against CPP Chairperson

The High Court in Accra has thrown out a case which sought to prevent the Chairperson and Leader of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Akosua Frimpomaa, from holding herself out as leader and chairperson of the party.

This comes after the court presided over by Justice Ellen L.S. Mireku held that the CPP’s Central Committee was the highest body of the party and, therefore, an interim committee of the party had no authority to sue on behalf of the party.

“The removal of the national leaders did not result in the automatic dissolution of the Central Committee which empowers the National Executive Committee to form an interim council to act in place and/or stead of the central committee.

“Therefore, I find that the present action, which was initiated at the behest of the interim council, which is not an organ of the party and not having been done at the behest of or through the highest administrative body of the party, which is the Central Committee, the present action is at the blind side of the party and as such without its consent,” Justice Mireku said.

The judge further held the suit against the chairperson was without merit since it was not authorised by the highest administrative body of the party, adding that everything in the writ and the processes so far filed smacked of an attempt to use the machinery of law to perpetuate an injustice.

Application

The ruling followed an application filed by Jamaldeen Tonzua who sought to remove the party’s name from the suit against the chairperson on grounds that an interim committee could not sue on behalf of the party.

In the application, counsel contended that he had been authorised by the Council of Elders and the Central Committee to question the authority of Bright Akwetey, who is the Head of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, to sue the chairperson in the party’s name.

He argued that the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which is a sub-committee of the Central Committee, was not an organ of the party and under the constitution of the party, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee was not given any functions; hence could not commence an action in the name of the party.

The applicant further contended that there was nothing on record that suggested that the CPP was authorised by the National Executive Council to initiate the substantive suit, adding that the Interim Committee that conferred the head of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Bright Akwetey was not an organ of the party.

He added that even if the party claimed the Interim Council was acting in the place of the national leadership, the national leadership was not an organ of the party and had no powers to exercise and, therefore, the Interim Council could not take the decision to come to court on its own.

He, therefore, prayed the court to have the party (Convention Peoples' Party) disjoined from the suit.

The court agreed with the applicant and disjoined the party from the substantive matter, a ruling which also led to the dismissal of the case against the chairperson.