John Boadu, General Secretary of NPP
A Sekondi High Court has ordered the Western Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to conduct polling station polls in the Ellembelle Constituency.
The Ellembelle NPP polling station polls were put on hold by the court following a suit filed by aggrieved members of the party a month ago.
The aggrieved party members accused the regional chairman of the party of favouring his “friends” and sidelining party members who support other candidates.
The Sekondi High Court earlier referred the matter to the Western Regional Minister for out-of-court settlement.
The judge, Justice Bright Mensah, was of the view that the NPP elders should be able to ensure that sleeping dogs lie.
Justice Mensah stated that “a divided house cannot stand, and so I therefore invoke the powers in section 72 (1) of the 1993 court act which allows me to refer the matter to the Regional Minister for redress.
“Go to him and if all attempts fail for amicable settlement, then of course you can resort to the law court.
The case was therefore adjourned to February 23, 2018 to allow the Regional Minister to brief the court on progress of the arbitration.
Even though some party activists were satisfied with the approach adopted by the court to resolve the matter, the case could not be resolved amicably at a crunch meeting of some party elders and the parties.
On March 19, 2018, the judge directed that the Ellembelle polling station elections should be organized to pave way for the election of constituency officers.
Meanwhile, the Western Regional Elections Committee has told DAILY GUIDE that the regional delegates’ conference of the party slated for April, this year would take place with or without delegates from Ellembelle.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi