Volta Regional NPP defies court order to elect new officers

The extraordinary delegates conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta Region to elect new regional party executives came off last Saturday in spite of a 10-day interim injunction against the exercise.

The exercise, which took place at the assembly hall of St Francis College of Education at Hohoe, had about 500 party delegates from all 26 constituencies of the region electing their preferred candidates for all 10 regional executive positions, including that of the chairmanship slot, which was placed on hold by the Ho High court last Friday.

This was a result of an ex parte motion filed at the court by an aggrieved disqualified chairman aspirant, Mr George Kofi Boateng, over what he described as unfair disqualification from the race, for which he would suffer irreparable damage should the chairmanship election be held.

The party nonetheless proceeded with the elections under the supervision of the regional officers of the Electoral Commission led by the Director, Mr Selormey Dogbey Adukpo.

Various government functionaries, including the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, and his deputy, Mr Maxwell Blagodzi, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi; Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Mr John Peter Amewu, as well as all the party’s Council of Elders and all 25 MMDCEs in the region, witnessed the elections.

Winners

The process, which ran late into the night, saw the immediate past Regional Organiser, Mr Makafui Kofi Woanyah, emerge as the new Volta Regional Chairman of the NPP with an overwhelming majority endorsement of 296 votes out of a total 493 votes cast. He beat off competition from three other contestants, with the closest contender, Mr Johnson Avuletey, polling some 129 votes.

A fifth chairmanship aspirant, Lawyer Ken Anku, withdrew from the race prior to the start of the elections in respect for the court injunction.

Incumbents Mr Joseph Homenya and Mr Joseph Dente also waded off competition to retain their positions as Regional Secretary and Treasurer with 265 and 372 votes, respectively.

The regional organiser contest was, however, a landslide victory for Mr Emmanuel Korsi Bodja in the four-man race in which he polled 301 votes as against the 179 votes of his closest competitor, Mr Divine Bosson, who is the Volta Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

For the women’s organiser race, the incumbent deputy, Madam Hannah Ashade, lost with a 30 vote difference to Madam Afia Agyagbo, who had 257 votes in a three-horse race.

Other winners included Mr Kofi Adjei Ntim and Mr Abdallah Mohammed Sadiq as First and Second Vice Chairmen, respectively, while Mr Joshua Makabu retained his Assistant Secretary position.

The regional youth organiser post went to the unopposed candidate, Mr King David Ninkab Nkanam, with the Nasara Coordinator going to Mr Aliu Bashiru Sharabutu.