THE ASOKWA Magistrate Court in Kumasi has referred a case before it involving members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Subin Constituency in the Ashanti Region to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service for amicable settlement.
Members of the Council of Elders of the party in the region led by its Chairman, Rev. Mark Adu Gyamfi, had planned to plead with the court on Monday to have the case withdrawn and settled out of court by themselves.
However, the council’s wish was not granted as the court presided by Her Worship, Afia Adu Boahen, had decided otherwise.
Thirteen members of the party in Subin were recently sued by the state for unlawfully closing its constituency office on March 8, 2022 over election-related disagreements.
They are Hamza Kwasi Razak, Isaac Agyei, Tony Ntiamoah, Alex Ofori, Kwame Sarpong Boateng, Faustina Darko, Barbara Osei Owusu, Ahmed Tuani Mohammed, Margaret Awuah, Eric Blankson, Robert Osei Tutu, Eva Bempah and Augustine Fordwour.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and offensive conduct preferred against them, compelling their counsel, Annie Mogtar, to secure bail in the sum of GH¢15,000 with two sureties.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, the Prosecutor, Detective Inspector Frank Otchere Osae, said in the month of February, this year, the NPP released its timetable for the election of its local and national executives across the country.
Consequently, he said the suspects who are members of the party in Subin applied for the various positions, but each of them was disqualified on, as he put it, certain grounds per the party’s constitution.
On March 8, 2022, the suspects who were brimming with anger following their disqualification conspired to lock the main entry into the party office, using padlocks and chains without any authority and went into hiding.
Detective Inspector Osae said the complainant in the case, Francis Osei Hyeaman, First Vice Chairman of the NPP in Subin, and his executives lodged a complaint with the regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Service.
He said the suspects failed to honour police invitations to assist in investigations until the court issued summons to them to appear before it on March 16, 2022.
FROM James Quansah, Kumasi