Court drops contempt case against ICU

Thursday, April 9, 2009 (Page 3)

THE Accra Fast Track High Court has dismissed a contempt case brought against three members of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).
According to the court, the applicants, Mr Napoleon Kpoh, a former General Secretary of the ICU, and Mr A. Y. B. Salifu, former Chairman of the ICU, had failed to establish a prima facie case against the IMC to warrant the court to cite them for contempt.
The applicants had prayed the court to cite Mr Gilbert Awinongya, Chairman of the IMC, Mr Solomon Kotei and Theophilus Tenkorang, both members of the IMC, for contempt of court after they had allegedly disregarded a court’s order to secure its permission before preparing and subsequently holding the ICU 8th quadrennial delegates conference.
The court, presided over by Justice Edward Amoako Asante, said he had carefully studied the court order that was relied on by the plaintiffs in the contempt application and it had come to the conclusion that the defendants did not flout any court order.
It also held that the applicants failed to tell the court whether or not they (applicants) were national executive members of the ICU.
The court further ruled that the defendants were not parties to the substantive matter in which the applicants claim they had been wrongfully removed from office.
It accordingly held that the defendants could, therefore, not be attached for contempt of court because there was no act of liability on their part.
The court awarded costs of GH¢1,500 against Mr Kpoh and Mr Salifu in favour of the defendants.
The counsel for the defendants had asked the court to grant costs of GH¢2,500 in favour of his clients but the counsel for the applicants offered to pay GH¢200.
In the substantive case against the Deputy General Secretary in charge of Operations of ICU, and five others, Mr Kpoh and Mr Salifu stated that their removal from office constituted an infringement of their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
In the application to the court to cite the defendants for contempt, the applicants said they had not been served any notice of any application by the respondents for an order to prepare for the conference, which was held in Kumasi, noting that since they were members of the ICU, they had responsibilities to participate in deliberations of the ICU.
According to the plaintiffs, although the defendants on August 20, 2007, secured an injunction to run the IMC, that did not mandate them to conduct any quadrennial delegates’ conference.
They further stated that the conduct of the defendants "undermines the administration of justice of the court and, therefore, prayed the court to commit them to prison custody for contempt”.
In response, Mr Awinongya described the plaintiffs’ action as questionable, saying the application had been wrongly brought against him.
He said he was not a party to the suit and did not prepare or organise the conference in his own capacity but rather, it was the National Executive Council (NEC) of the ICU that organised it.
According to him, the court by its orders of January 12, 2009 showed that the union was acting within the confines of the law while the main suit was still pending.
He said the NEC secured an injunction against the applicants, hence the IMC was vested with the responsibility of running the union in periods between the delegates conference.
Further, Mr Awinongya said, the applicants were no longer members of the ICU.
He also stated that Mr Salifu no longer belonged to the local union of SSNIT where he worked, adding that Mr Salifu had for a period more than three years not paid any dues to the ICU.
The defendant further averred that Mr Kpoh had since August 11, 2007 not belonged to any constituency within the union.
The Accra Fast Track High Court had on August 20, 2007 restrained Mr Kpoh and Mr Salifu from holding themselves as General Secretary and Chairman of the ICU respectively.