Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, NDC Chairman
The opposition
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and two of its members who secured a court injunction
against the upcoming presidential primary of the party ahead of the 2020 election
have agreed to settle the matter out court.
Lawyers for NDC and
the applicants told an Accra High Court which granted the injunction in
December last year that both parties have agreed to adopt an out-of-court
settlement.
Samuel Codjoe, who
represented the party, told the court that discussions were underway to address
the issues raised by the applicants.
He, therefore,
prayed the court to give them three days to finish the discussions and negotiations
and file the terms of settlement which would be adopted by the court as consent
judgment.
Christopher King and
Victor Adawudu, who represented the two party members, told the court that the negotiations
were ongoing.
The court, presided
over Justice Georgina Datsa Mensah, ordered the two parties to file their terms
of settlement in three days which could be adopted as consent judgment.
Plans by the NDC to
hold presidential primary to elect a flagbearer for the 2020 presidential
election appeared to have hit the snag after an Accra High Court granted an interlocutory
injunction against the exercise last December.
Two members of the
party – James Kabu Nartey and Abdallah Issah- filed the application challenging
the rules and guidelines set for the presidential election scheduled for
January 26, 2019.
The duo, in the
suit, explained that the guidelines set by the party violate the 1992
Constitution of Ghana.
The party’s initial
exorbitant filing fee was also a bone of contention.
National Executives
of the NDC, in December last year, set GH¢400,000 and GH¢20,000 as filing and
nomination fees for the presidential aspirants.
Eight out of the
initial 13 aspirants, who were unhappy with the exorbitant fees, petitioned the
party’s Council of Elders for a downward review of the fees.
The amount was
subsequently slashed to GH¢300,000 after the intervention of former President
Jerry John Rawlings, who is the Chairman of the Council of Elders and founder
of the NDC.
Notwithstanding the
injunction, seven aspirants filed their nomination before the deadline
yesterday.
They included Second
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin; former Vice
Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Joshua Alabi;
former President John Mahama, ex-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National
Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah and businessman Nurideen
Iddrisu, former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and a cadre,
Goosie Tanoh.
John Mahama, Alban
Bagbin, Joshua Alabi, Sly Mensah, all filed their nomination on Monday, December
17, 2018, while Messrs Iddrisu, Spio-Garbrah and Tanoh submitted their
nomination forms on Tuesday, December 18 to generate GH¢2.24 million for a
party which claims to be broke after just two years of losing power to the New
Patriotic Party (NPP).
Each aspirant paid GH¢300,000 as a filing fee and GH¢20,000 as nomination fee.
By Gibril Abdul Razak