Independent Member of Parliament for the Nkawkaw constituency of the Eastern region has been hauled before court by a trader Kwasi Anyedei Ocloo who is urging the court to declare his seat vacant.
In a statement of claim, the plaintiff said prior to the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the defendant held a membership of the New Patriotic Party but was disqualified from contesting the party’s primaries. He contends that the defendant together with the Members of Parliament for Bosome Freho and Bekwai were granted unconditional amnesty by the NPP in 2009 and therefore the Nkawkaw MP is fully clothed with NPP membership with its attendant rights and privileges.
The Member of Parliament Seth Adjei-Baah popularly referred to as SHAABA had a terrible time in the constituency with his mother party the New Patriotic Party prior to the 2008 general elections where he was forced to stepdown in his bid to contest the then incumbent NPP MP, but went ahead to contest as an independent candidate and won.
But the Plaintiff Mr. Anyedei Ocloo says Shaaba after winning the elections is doing business with the NPP, contributing financially and attends meetings and by his actions is thwarting the efforts of eligible candidates to contest him in the 2012 general elections and that is in violation of Article 97[h] of the 1992 constitution.
When Asempa News contacted Shaaba he confirmed being notified of the writ of summons and said his lawyers were handling the case and that a date is yet to be fixed for the hearing.
Meanwhile, the NPP Constituency Chairman of the Nkawkaw, Osei Ameyaw tells Asempa News the constituency has distanced itself from the court case and says even though they have problems with Shaba, they are using internal party mechanisms to resolve it.
He indicated that Mr. Anyedei Ocloo is not a member of the party in his constituency and that the court can only be in his personal capacity.
Source: Asempa News