NDC suspends vetting of flagbearer aspirants over injunction

An interlocutory injunction secured by two members of the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC], has led to the suspension of the vetting of flagbearer aspirants which was scheduled for today [Saturday], ahead of the presidential primaries on January 26, 2019.

Three of the seven aspirants, namely John Mahama, former President, Sylvester Mensah and Alban Gbagbin, were to be vetted today after they all submitted their nomination forms in the past week.

However, an injunction placed on the upcoming election by an Accra High Court on grounds of breaches of the 1992 Constitution as well as some controversies surrounding the party’s nomination and filing fee, has led to the halting of the vetting.

A Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Peter Boamah Otukonor, who spoke to Citi News said the party’s legal team is handling the case with urgency.

“The electoral activity that was supposed to take place yesterday and today, which is the vetting, unfortunately because of the injunction, we are unable to proceed with the vetting, we have since communicated to all the aspirants and indicated to them that we will get back to them on the vetting immediately we are able to clear the hurdle at the court, ” he said.

Meanwhile, all aspirants have been urged to continue their campaign until they are notified to do otherwise.

Two members of the party, James Kabu Nartey and Abdallah Issah took the legal action against the party.

In their statement of claim, it emerged that the two have issues with the filing fees before it was reviewed, and are also unhappy about the fact that a particular rule which states that one has to be a member of the party for ten years before contesting for presidential primaries has been breached.

The court said the injunction is for the next 10 days, after which the plaintiffs could reapply for a notice to halt the election process.

It is unclear what the interest of the plaintiffs are, especially when seven of the aspirants have now filed their nominations and are awaiting vetting and subsequently the election on January 26, 2019.

Some flagbearer hopefuls had been protesting the decision of the National Executive Committee’s to charge each aspirant GHS 420,000 as filing and nomination fees.

Source: citinewsroom