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
