NDC Youth Organizer injunction overturned by Supreme Court | Details
The Supreme Court of Ghana has overturned a ruling by the Koforidua High Court that had placed an injunction on Richard Etornam Nyarko, the Eastern Regional Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a major opposition party in the country.
The Supreme Court also issued a prohibition order against the High Court judge, preventing them from further sitting on the matter.
The dispute arose from the Eastern Regional Youth and Women’s Organizer election held on November 11, 2022, at Nsawam-Adoagyiri. In the election, Nyarko defeated the incumbent Regional Organizer, Emmanuel Okai Minta, with 55 votes to 52.
Minta contested the election’s validity, arguing that six delegates from Afram Plains South and Atewa West were not eligible to participate because the party’s Functional Executives committee had nullified the elections in those constituencies in a press release.
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NDC Youth Organizer injunction overturned by Supreme Court | Details
NDC NPP by NDC NPP April 19, 2023
The Supreme Court of Ghana has overturned a ruling by the Koforidua High Court that had placed an injunction on Richard Etornam Nyarko, the Eastern Regional Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a major opposition party in the country.
The Supreme Court also issued a prohibition order against the High Court judge, preventing them from further sitting on the matter.
The dispute arose from the Eastern Regional Youth and Women’s Organizer election held on November 11, 2022, at Nsawam-Adoagyiri. In the election, Nyarko defeated the incumbent Regional Organizer, Emmanuel Okai Minta, with 55 votes to 52.
Minta contested the election’s validity, arguing that six delegates from Afram Plains South and Atewa West were not eligible to participate because the party’s Functional Executives committee had nullified the elections in those constituencies in a press release.
Minta filed a lawsuit at the Koforidua High Court, seeking a perpetual injunction to prevent Nyarko from holding himself as Regional Youth Organizer or any other executive within the Regional executive committee until a fresh election was conducted.
He also asked for a declaration that the delegates from Atewa West and Afram Plains South who participated in the election had done so illegally and for an order to annul the Eastern Regional Youth wing election by virtue of these infractions.
On December 8, 2022, the Koforidua High Court granted Minta’s injunction application, effectively preventing Nyarko from carrying out his duties as Regional Youth Organizer. The court also nullified the election, even though the substantive case had not yet been determined.
Nyarko subsequently filed a Judicial Review Application at the Supreme Court, requesting that the court quash the ruling of the High Court in Koforidua, arguing that the judge erred when they proceeded to grant almost all the reliefs endorsed on the writ of summons when granting the injunction application.
He also claimed that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to decide the matter until the case had been fully heard.
Nyarko’s affidavit in support of his application also requested that the Supreme Court transfer the case to a different judge, arguing that the Koforidua High Court had essentially determined the matter and should not be allowed to sit on the case again.
On April 18, 2023, a five-member Supreme Court panel led by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang unanimously granted Nyarko’s request, quashing the ruling of the High Court and prohibiting the judge from sitting on the case. Nyarko’s legal team expressed gratitude to the court.
The ruling is significant because it reinstates Nyarko as the Eastern Regional Youth Organizer of the NDC, allowing him to carry out his duties. It also sets a precedent that prevents High Court judges from issuing rulings that effectively decide cases before they have been fully heard.
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