Joe Baidoe-Ansah
Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Western Region have finalized plans to hold the parliamentary primary in the Kwesimintsim Constituency.
This follows a ruling by an Accra High Court on Friday directing the NPP to take steps to conduct the primary in the Kwesimintsim Constituency.
The court, presided over by Rosseta Bernasko Essah, upheld the position of one of the contestants, Joseph Mensah that he was unjustifiably disqualified from the primary.
Mr. Mensah and the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, Joe Baidoe-Ansah, filed their nominations to contest the primary, which was expected to have taken place on Saturday, June 13, 2015.
However, Joe Mensah was disqualified by the Vetting Committee (VC) of the party purportedly without any reason.
Reports said that Joe Mensah was disqualified because his particulars were not in the party’s database.
Mr Mensah, who was dissatisfied with the VC’s verdict, filed an appeal against his disqualification from the race.
The Appeals Committee, however, upheld the decision of the Vetting Committee to disqualify Joe Mensah but could not provide the plaintiff with the reasons for his disqualification.
Joe Mensah suspected foul play and consequently filed a motion for interlocutory injunction at the Sekondi High Court to stop the acclamation of the incumbent MP.
The court, presided over by Justice Edward Asante-Amoako ordered the NPP and the Electoral Commission (EC)- first and second defendants respectively- to suspend the holding of any election in the constituency until the final determination of the matter.
After protracted hearing at the Sekondi High Court, the case took a dramatic twist when it was moved to an Accra High Court for final determination.
Justice Rosseta Bernasko Essah said there was no basis for disqualification of Mr Mensah from the primary.
The court ordered the party to hold the election to enable the NPP to get a candidate to contest in the upcoming December 7 parliamentary election.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that on Saturday, executives of the NPP in the Western region met the aspirants to share ideas and outline plans for a successful primary.
The paper also gathered the executives of the party fixed Tuesday, September 27, 2016 for the holding of the primary to enable the eventual winner to file for the parliamentary election on Friday.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi