Mr. Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has warned members of the party involved in various power struggles to beware of taking the party to court.

Giving the warning at Ho recently, Mr. Botwe said that "sanctions will be imposed on those who take the party to court."

He suggested that such an action could amount to anti-party activity as it would expose the NPP to "public ridicule," adding that the NPP Constitution is a valid document that should be respected, since it has not been set aside by anyone.

Mr. Botwe, who briefed the press after inaugurating a nine-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the NPP Ho Central Constituency, announced that the party's Volta Regional Secretary, Mr. Kwame Atta, would remain suspended until final determination of his petition. The IMC had been ordered by Justice Paul Gyaesayor.

Botwe disclosed that Atta had petitioned the National Executive Committee against his suspension but did not say when his fate would be decided.

Atta was suspended from office by the Regional Executive Committee on July 30, 2003, but he insists that his suspension contravenes articles 4(5) and 10 of the NPP Constitution, claiming further that his position is elective hence he cannot be suspended by a committee but rather the delegates that elected him.

Botwe assured Volta NPP activists that the party would organise at all levels to win the 2004 elections, stressing: "the NPP does not believe in ethnicity."

The General-Secretary said that the NPP National Headquarters "factors Volta Region seriously" in the 2004 elections and believes the party would do well in the region. He praised the Regional Party for topping in the new membership drive and urged them on but advised them against trivial issues that would divide their front.

Mr. Botwe said there would be no primaries in the Akan constituencies and others, including Ellembele of Mr. Freddie Blay, until June 2004 due to the co-operation the party enjoys from both the independent members and other minority parties (PNC and CPP).

"The party has absolute strategic right to do that," he said.

He announced that the regional NPP realised over ?250m out of the ?1bn realised nationwide, from 18 constituencies in the Volta Region and said that showed the party is growing in the Region.

The General-Secretary assured the Volta Region of the National headquarters support to hold to the jinx of the NDC.

He later donated a fax machine, and a computer and accessories to the Regional Secretariat of the party.

Mr. Kenwuud Nuworsu, the Acting Regional Chairman, appealed to the media, particularly the private press, to co-operate with them.