CPP Didn't Nullify Blay's Nomination

By Stephen K. Effah
Tuesday, 07 October 2008

THE results of the Convention People’s Party’s (CPP’s) August primaries for the Ellembelle Constituency won by the incumbent Member of Parliament, Frederick Blay, have not been nullified, the party has said.

The party’s Executive Committee only objected to the candidature of Mr Blay in a press release issued after the election.

Yao Yegbey, counsel for the CPP in the dispute over the August 23 primaries between Mr Blay and the party’s Central Committee, said the application filed by Mr Blay "is based on falsehood".

Mr Blay is challenging the party’s Central Committee to the nullification of his election on August 23, as the party’s Parliamentary candidate for the December polls, and seeking the court to declare his election "lawful, proper and valid".

Mr Yegbey told the court, presided over by Edward Amoako Asante, that Mr Blay’s action against the Central Committee executive was based on what he termed "misunderstanding" of a press release issued after Mr Blay’s election and thus described the action as "incompetent before the court".

He said that if Blay had deemed it necessary to find out what took place at the Central Committee’s meeting, he would not have concluded that the result of the primaries had been nullified.

He therefore stated that the objection to Mr Blay’s candidature was based on article 48(f) of the CPP constitution.

Mr Blay’s counsel, Godfred Odame, had earlier argued that the move by the Central Committee to nullify the results of the Ellembelle Constituency primaries of the party was "tainted by irregularities".

He said the CPP is a political party in which the public has interest hence the Central Committee "cannot arrogate to itself any power without advancing its rules," adding "it acted in excess of is jurisdiction".

Mr Odame said the committee is not a body which elects candidates; its duty is to approve candidates. "It does not have the power at all to nullify the results".

He therefore prayed the court to quash the decision by the Central Committee of the party since it is "palpably unlawful", and to recognise Mr. Blay to enable him to contest the December poll.

Mr Bright Akwetey, a leading member of the CPP, who prayed the court at the last adjourned date to allow an in-house settlement, told the court that the parties in the case had sat to resolve the matter "in the spirit of comradeship".

The parties, he said, had come out with a resolution but somewhere along the line, something untoward came up, which probably did not go down well with Mr Blay, making him (Blay) continue to pursue the matter.

In spite of that, he said, they would try to settle the matter by the next adjourned date.

The judge in response, described the state of affairs as "not healthy" for the party since time was running out for the filing of nominations, and therefore urged the two factions to settle their differences.

The court adjourned to October, to deliver its judgement if by that time the party had not been able to reach a settlement.