Disqualified NPP aspirant who sued party slapped GH₵20,000 with cost by High Court

Mr Alex Joseph Asuma Amolbugri Avoka who was disqualified by the National Parliamentary Vetting Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from contesting the party’s parliamentary primary election in the Binduri Constituency has been slapped with a cost of GH₵20,000 by the Bolgatanga High Court after the court dismissed his application seeking to overturn his disqualification.

The committee had disqualified him for a number of reasons:

“The Committee’s decision to recommend to the National Executive Council (NEC) for your disqualification is necessitated by the following acts, which were proven against you when you appeared for vetting before the Committee on Wednesday, 1st January 2024: (a) Forgery of signatures and/or thumbprint on your nomination of Clement Afugu and Adamu Mamata, which acts are criminal offences; (b) Reduction of the date of birth to benefit from 50% filing fees granted to under 40 years APC, and (c) Claiming to have a Bachelor of Business Administration (Human Resources) from the Christian Service University College Kumasi when you did not even attend school there,” Elvis Awonekai Atia, NPP Upper East Regional Secretary had said in a letter addressed to Mr Avoka.

However, the parliamentary aspirant sued the party following the announcement of his disqualification by the vetting committee. He had sought to get the Court to compel the party to change its mind about him not being qualified to contest in the primary.

His suit forced the party to hold on with the parliamentary primary election in the Constituency until there was a legal resolution of the matter. His contender, Mr Abdulai Abanga, who should have been popularly acclaimed as the NPP parliamentary candidate had to wait until the Court ruled on the matter.

But today, February 2, 2024, the Court has dismissed his application as lacking merit and imposed a cost of GH₵20, 000 Cedis on him.

It is unclear whether Mr Avoka will escalate the case to the next level or will accept the verdict of the court and pay the fine.