Injunction hits Manhyia NPP election

With less than 24 hours to the Ashanti Regional Congress of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to elect new leaders for the party, two residents from the Manhyia North Constituency have secured an order of interlocutory injunction to restrain seven executive members from taking part in the congress.

The two, Victor Osei-Poku and Yakubu Alhassan, residents of Dichemso and Moshie-Zongo respectively, prayed the court to restrain the seven delegates from taking part in the regional congress as their selection did not meet the requirement of the NPP Constitution.

Delegates

The interim injunction which has been granted by the Kumasi High Court thus restrains the Electoral Commission, the NPP headquarters and the Ashanti Regional Elections Committee of the NPP, their privies, assigned and agents from recognising them as executives of the Manhyia North Constituency and permitting them or any of them to vote as such in the regional officers or executive elections.

The constituency executive members restrained are Dorcas Konadu Bonsu, Financial Secretary; Hawa Mohammed, Deputy Women Organiser; Douglas Agyemang, Deputy Organiser; Anthony Kusi, Deputy Youth Organiser; Baffour Asare, Communications Officer; More Abdulai, Deputy NASARA Coordinator, and Kwaku Sarpong, Deputy Elections and Research Officer.

Plaintiffs

According to the plaintiffs, the party’s constitution stipulates that all these officers must be appointed in the presence of the Member of Parliament of the area.

However, they claimed that the constituency executive overlooked this requirement and on their own selected these delegates to occupy such positions.

According to them, the seven ‘executives’ were aliens in the hierarchy of the party in the constituency and as such should not be allowed to conduct themselves as such and be allowed to take part in the regional election.

Background

At the last regional election in 2014, the entire constituency was prevented from taking part in the election due to misunderstanding within the constituency over the register and the executives.

This misunderstanding also delayed the constituency primary to select a parliamentary candidate.