Counsel for Paul Afoko, the suspended National NPP chairman, wants eight members of the party’s steering committee punished for going ahead with a committee meeting he believes constitutes contempt of court.
Lawyer Martin Kpebu particularly wants acting National Chairman of the party Freddie Blay jailed after he chaired the meeting in the full knowledge that Paul Afoko’s supporters had filed a writ of summons challenging his suspension last Friday.
Three individuals believed to be sponsored by suspended NPP Chairman Paul Afoko have gone to court trying to stop the enforcement of his suspension.
The applicants are Tweneboa Kodua Emmanuel, Stephen Owusu and Joseph Oppong, all from the Ashanti region.
The three are seeking an interlocutory injunction “to restrain them from holding out [Freddie Blay] as acting chairman of the party and convening and attending meetings without the purportedly suspended chairman of the party
(Chairman Afoko) being the convenor of the meetings.
“… and to restrain the defendants from taking decisions in any meeting not convened by Chairman Afoko, until this dispute is finally determined.”
Martin Kpebu says with the exception of the General Secretary all other members of the steering committee have disrespected the court and should be charged with contempt.
Kpedu believes the NEC should exercise restraint pending the hearing of the suit on November 9. “What is the rush?” he wondered.
Although the court is yet to grant an injunction, Martin Kpebu says it is a settled matter in law that a writ of summons alone once filed can constitute contempt if the defendants go ahead to do anything that prejudices the administration of justice.
“What else can be more prejudicial than to be served with an application for injunction, you ignore it and go ahead?”
He criticised Freddie Blay who he says failed to acknowledge the basic legal proceedings relating to contempt of court despite being a lawyer.
