Some New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in the Cape Coast South Constituency of the Central Region have secured an injunction to stop the election of executives for that constituency this Sunday.
The members issued a writ at the court Friday challenging the eligibility of one of the three candidates vying for the chairmanship position in that constituency.
It followed the expiration of a 24-hour ultimatum given to party executives in the constituency and the region to disqualify Alex Hagan-Mensah or face a court action.
According to them, Mr. Hagan-Mensah, an international geologist, does not qualify to contest or vote in the Cape Coast South constituency election because he lacks the basic requirement to belong to the constituency.
Per the rules and regulation of the 2018 Constituency Annual Delegates Congress which starts February 24, “A contestant must be a registered voter and a member of the constituency in which he/she seeks to contest”.
However, the concerned members say Mr. Hagan-Mensah does not meet that requirement, hence cannot be allowed to contest in the constituency executive election.
They claimed their search at the Electoral Commission revealed Mr. Hagan-Mensah voted at the Kwaprow polling station in the Cape Coast North constituency, hence not eligible to vote or contest in Cape Coast South constituency.
They on February 22 asked the party executives to disqualify the candidate within 24 hours or face court action, something the party failed to do, thus prompting the members to initiate a court action to challenge Mr. Hagan-Mensah’s eligibility.
They again filed an application for injunction to stop the elections until the matter is determined by the court. It was accordingly granted.
The Electoral Commission of Ghana in Cape Coast has since been served with the order of the court but regional and constituency executives of the party as well as the candidate whose eligibility is being challenged have since Friday morning been evading service.
Spokesperson for the group, Joseph Minnow Afful, told 3news.com Friday night “We are able to serve the EC metro office… it’s quite unfortunate we couldn’t get the regional and the constituency executives; they are on their toes now, they are nowhere to be found”.
He claimed the executives who were in a meeting, on hearing an injunction has been granted to stop the election, ended the meeting and have since been evading service.
But Mr. Afful says once the EC has been served, they do not expect the election to come off on Sunday, adding “We are just waiting to see what happens in the coming days.
“Even though we have served them, they could go ahead and disobey the court order and face the court later. We are hoping that they abide by the rules,” he added.
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