Agona Swedru (CR), June 16, GNA - An Agona Swedru High Court has fixed June 24 for ruling on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Effutu Constituency primaries held on May 1. Three members of the Party in the constituency, Mr Decent Rockson, Mr Nelson Bortsi and Madam Agnes Beatrice Mensah filed a suit at the court presided over by Mr Justice Senyo Dzamefe against the results of the primaries that declared the incumbent Member of Parliament and Minister for Public Sector Reform, Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, winner. The plaintiffs contended that Mr Owusu-Agyei, as an incumbent Member of Parliament and an officer in the constituency should have resigned that position before contesting and voting, therefore the results should be declared null and void.

They prayed the court to take action against Mr Owusu-Agyei for contempt when he mounted posters in the constituency after it had granted an interlocutory injunction restraining him as NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency. In another development, Mr Justice Dzamefe ordered management of The Chronicle to render an apology to the court for misrepresentation of proceedings on the case.

He asked the management to give the apology the same prominence it gave its banner headline of the June 11 edition of the newspaper that "I will cause your arrest" alleging that he threatened to arrest Mr Owusu-Agyei if he failed to appear before the court on Monday, June 16. Mr Justice Dzamefe said "The Chronicle publication did not represent the proceedings in court" and advised Journalists to be circumspect in their reportage.