Court asks Kpoh and Salifu to go

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Napoleon Kpoh and Ahmed Yusuf Salifu are no more General Secretary and Chairman, respectively, of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).

A Fast Track High Court in Accra yesterday restrained the two men from holding themselves as executives of the union because their tenure of office has expired.

The two had filed a motion to stop a move to oust them from office, but the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ICU who were the defendants, filed a counter-claim against the two men.

In its order the court, presided over by Justice K. Anto Ofori-Attah, awarded two million cedis each against the two officers and ordered Mr. Kpoh to return a cross country vehicle in his possession to the ICU.

But later in the afternoon, the two men filed a notice of interlocutory appeal and another motion on notice for stay of execution pending the appeal.

The background to the judgement is that on August 2, the NEC held a meeting to remove Kpoh and Salifu from office on the basis that their tenure of office, had expired, a move which triggered a legal tussle between the affected officers and the NEC.

The legal battle went further when on August 9, the NEC reportedly declared that it had instituted an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to take over the running of the union.

Following the declaration, Mr Kpoh and Mr Salifu filed the application to restrain the NEC from removing them from office until a delegates congress decides on their fate.

They claimed in the writ that the decision taken by the NEC contravened the ICU constitution.

The writ cited Gilbert A. Awinongya, Deputy General Secretary (Operation), Solomon Kotei Mensah, Deputy General Secretary, Administration, Christiana Baidoo , Second National Trustee and Theophilus Tenkorang, First National Trustee and other members of the IMC.

The NEC also filed a motion at the same court to restrain Mr Kpoh and Mr Salifu from acting or holding themselves as General-Secretary and Chairman of the ICU, respectively.

They also asked the court for an order to restrain Mr Kpoh from "making any pronouncements to the media in a purported capacity as Chief Executive or General Secretary of the union with effect from August 11, 2007."

Mr C.K Koka, counsel for Kpoh and Salifu, in moving the motion said last week that "as far as we are concerned, our tenure of office will end when there is a delegates congress.

"There have been constitutional conventions. He is required to give a report at the congress after which the Chief Labour Officer will dissolve the old executives and swear the new team into office," he said.

He told the court that Article 10(2) of the ICU constitution which states that "the NEC shall have no power to change decisions" had been breached by the
defendants.

Counsel further argued that the NEC meeting that purportedly removed Kpoh and Salifu, was not properly constituted.

Mr Albert Adaare, counsel for the NEC, on the other hand, said the remedy being sought by Kpoh and Salifu "is an equitable one and Article 13(3) which talks about tenure of office, is very strict on this.

"They have interpreted the ICU constitution wrongly. Their mandate has expired and it is only the court that can extend it."

Dismissing the plaintiff’s application for interlocutory injunction and granting the NEC’s application to restrain Kpoh and Salifu from holding themselves as ICU executives, the court said "the plaintiffs have not been able to assert their legal right to warrant them to stay in office beyond August 10, 2007, when their tenure of office expired."

The court said the convention in the ICU constitution which made executives stay in office until congress for new ones to take over was not automatic, saying "they were elected and sworn into office for a four-year period (August 11, 2003 to August 10, 2007) but once the period is over they cannot continue to assert those rights."

Justice Ofori-Attah further said the rules of the court were clear that Kpoh and Salifu will be compensated adequately should they win the substantive case against the NEC.

Immediately the ruling was read, Mr. Koka told the packed court that the NEC organized people with placards to demonstrate in the court’s premises at the last adjourned date and wanted the court to restrain them from impeding the administration of justice.

Mr. Adaare readily accepted responsibility on behalf of his clients and rendered an unqualified apology to the court.

He, however, asked the court to make further orders to enable the NEC to retrieve all ICU property from Kpoh and Salifu but the court declined and asked him to apply formally.