Suit against NDC discontinued

The Kumasi High Court, presided over by Justice Jacob Boon, yesterday granted the application by counsel for Linus Njonolah to have the suit filed against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) discontinued, following an out-of-court settlement.

This followed the decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NDC at its emergency meeting last Friday to expunge the clause complained of from the election guidelines and to allow those who were affected by that clause to file their nominations.

At the hearing yesterday, counsel for the plaintiff, Felix Datsomor, informed the court that he had filed a notice of discontinuation of the case on the instructions of his client following an out-of-court settlement arrived at by both parties.

According to the agreement, the clause complained of would be expunged from the guidelines, the party will reopen nominations for those who were affected by the said guidelines to file their nominations and a special committee set up to oversee the running of the elections at the regional and national levels.

According to Clause C, sub-section 6 of the guidelines of the party, “Before any member of the NDC contests the regional election, he or she must have held a position at the lower level of the party or government.”

He informed the court that his client was in agreement with the terms and as such would want to discontinue with the case.

Mr Datsomor, however, informed the court that his client still reserved the right to come back to court if the party failed to abide by the terms of the settlement.

The lead counsel for the NDC, Mojeeb Rahman Ahmed, also informed the court that the two sides had reconciled their differences and arrived at a consensus for the interest of the party.

Later in an interview, the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, commended Njonolah for insisting on the rule of law within the party.

He said, “We don’t consider him to have done anything wrong at all for which reason he ought to be punished. In fact, he has acted in furtherance of the interest of the party and to ensure that the party conducts its affairs according to its own constitution.”