<<Print>>

The Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court has placed an injunction on this weekend�s National Democratic Congress (NDC) elections in three constituencies. The constituencies are the Madina, Ayawaso West Wugon and La Dadekotopon. This is the third time such an action has taken place in the Greater Accra Region in the last one month. The Human Rights Court restrained the Madina and the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency branches of the NDC from holding constituency and Youth Organiser�s elections on Sunday, September 14, 2014. While the Madina Constituency branch has been restrained from holding constituency elections, the Ayawaso West Wuogon has been barred from holding youth wing election for the position of a youth organiser. The court, presided over by Justice Kofi Essel Mensah, said the injunction would be in force for 10 days. In the case of the Madina Constituency, Mr Lawrence Kojo Acolatse, a party member, acting on behalf of four others, all of the Oyarifa ward of the party, contended that the removal of the names of branch chairman of Oyarifa Presby Primary �A� and the officers of the Teiman Anglican School �A� and �B� from the delegates register was discriminatory, unlawful, capricious and against their fundamental rights. That action, he claimed, was a breach of the NDC constitution with regard to the election of party officers. He, therefore, prayed the court to restrain the holding of the election for an audit of the entire delegates list and also for the order to remain in force pending the outcome of the case. According to him, per the NDC constitution, all elected chairmen, secretaries, youth organisers and women organisers were automatic delegates accredited to take part in all constituency conferences to elect constituency executives. Wilful omission He contended that when the draft list of delegates was released, the name of the chairman of the Oyarifa Presby Primary �A� and all the executive committee members of the Teiman Anglican School �A� and �B� were also omitted from the list. The plaintiff also said while the Electoral Commission�s list of polling stations in the Madina Constituency stood at 151, six other �fictitious polling stations have been created� with �fictitious names in the new delegates� list [as people purported to be bearing those names] do not even live in the Madina Constituency�. Ayawaso West Wuogon In the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, a party member, Bismark Aborbi-Ayitey, averred that his disqualification by the chairman of the regional executive committee from contesting the position of a youth organiser was discriminatory, unlawful and against his fundamental rights. He said he had attended a vetting session on August 21, 2014 and had verbally been declared by the vetting committee as qualified and that he should go and prepare for campaign. But on September 1, 2014, he received a letter from the chairman of the regional executive committee informing him that he had been disqualified, citing no reasons. �That was in fragrant breach of the NDC constitution and the guidelines for election of party officers,� he contended.