<<Print>>

A Senior Lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Opoku Adusei says lawyers for the suspended National Chairman of NPP, Paul Afoko are wasting their time going to challenge the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) emergency meeting which saw the suspension of Mr. Afoko.

Three individuals believed to be sponsored by suspended NPP Chairman, Paul Afoko have gone to court trying to stop the enforcement of his suspension.

The three are seeking an interlocutory injunction “to restrain them from holding out [Freddie Blay] as acting chairman of the party and convening and attending meetings without the purportedly suspended chairman of the party (Chairman Afoko) being the convenor of the meetings and to restrain the defendants from taking decisions in any meeting not convened by Chairman Afoko, until this dispute is finally determined.”

The applicants are Tweneboa Kodua Emmanuel, Stephen Owusu and Joseph Oppong, all from the Ashanti region.

They cited amongst others former President John Kufuor, NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo, acting party chairman Freddie Blay as respondents.

They argue that contrary to the NPP’s constitution (Article 9D), Mr Blay convened a National Executive Committee (NEC) on October 23, 2015 “to consider a purported report of the National Disciplinary Committee (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Committee’) on the National Chairman of the Party when the National Chairman is present, able and willing to convene same.

But according to Dr. Opoku Adusei, “the legal presentation of Afoko’s lawyers is one-sided because the NPP is a company incorporated under the laws of Ghana and as such the law grants the body independent personality”.

He stressed the NPP as a company can stand on its own as the law provides protection for the party from the officers’ abuse; thus the rest of the executive can argue their case that Paul Afoko not calling for NEC meeting as it should be is an abuse of the company’s personality.

“..the best way to isolate the company from the officer’s abuse was what the rest of the executives did to free the NPP as a company it was registered; so the lawyers should not just read the NPP’s constitution one-sided,” he stated.

He insisted the legal argument of the lawyers that the meeting which was not convened by the suspended Chairman should be considered null and void will not fly when the matter is taken to court.

“I think this is one-side of the argument and when we get there, they will know the Constitution has a letter and the spirit and the logic aspect of the law comes from the spirit. If Afoko had held the meeting for his suspension, he would have held the party to ransom and he would not have organized a meeting which will sack him from his post,” he posited.