A high court ruling on Wednesday 7 November ended the 17 November presidential ambition of the National Democratic Alliance party following a protracted injunction matter instituted by an expelled party member against the party's executive and flagbearer.
The matter which has dragged on for over a month was closed after Justice Abdulai Cham gave his ruling in favor of Mohamed Pateh Bah, the expelled party member and complainant.
Bah, who joined the party in July 2012, was expelled two months later on the grounds he had behaved in a “violent and disrespectful” manner. He felt aggrieved that he was “unconstitutionally” punished and took the party to court.
Bah said that before the court action he had written a letter of complaint to the Political Parties Registration Commission and the National Electoral Commission after which the former had advised the party to amicably settle their differences.
“They refused and thought I was joking when I said I was going to take the party to court”, he once told Politico.
“If I was criminally prevented from contesting for the flagbearership of the party and illegally expelled, then I must say I have been exonerated,” he told journalists out of the court room.
Immediately after the ruling, counsel for the complainant, Leon Jenkins-Johnston, told Politico that the injunction against the party was not the court’s fault.
“They as a party had once refused to settle the matter out of court,” he explained, adding that to avoid more misunderstanding his client had gone to court to seek justice.
“They expelled my client without an opportunity for him to defend himself. They thought they would get away with it. If they had listened to the advice of experienced people at the PPRC all of this would not have happened. Now they are going into the elections without a flag bearer,” he boasted, before urging people “to trust the judiciary to boost democracy in the country”.
Mohamed Sidique Kabbah, runningmate to Alhaji Wurie Musidal Jalloh, the NDA would-be presidential candidate, blamed the matter on the party’s constitution which he said was “too open as to accommodate every Jack and Jill”. He expressed shock at the ruling. He added that they were now going to focus on ensuring that they concentrated on their candidates for mayor and council throughout the country.
He said they would rather they did not vote than vote for President Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC who “did not behave like the father of the nation by trying to settle the dispute of his children.”
(c) Politico 08/11/12
