The Ghana Cocoa, Coffee and Sheanut Association (GCCSFA) executive members who have served two four-year terms in office are prohibited from running in any future elections by the Sunyani High Court.
The court further prohibited the association, its representatives, successors, servants, or any other person from holding elections for association executives who have served their second terms.
Any association official who served "two four-year terms in office is banned from contending for any position in any way or fashion," according to the court, presided over by Justice Patrick Baryeh.
In a decision on a case brought before it by a candidate for the upcoming election to elect officers of the organisation, the court issued the orders in accordance with the group's constitution.
GCCSFA and Nana Adjei Damoah, a former Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the organisation, were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The plaintiff asked the court to declare, among other things, that the election of association members to the regional and national executive positions after they had served two consecutive terms of four years in office was unlawful and without merit.
Defence
Stephen Asante, Nana Damoah's defence attorney, said that the organisation had instructed its regional branches in the Bono, Ahafo, and Bono East regions to establish their own regional committees.
He contended that at that point, Nana Damoah's role as Chairman of the former Brong Ahafo ended.
He maintained that the position that is currently up for grabs and is being contested, the chairmanship of the Bono Regional Committee of the association, has never been held by the first defendant (Nana Damoah).
Mr. Asante added that the association's former Brong Ahafo Regional Committee had members from Ahafo, Bono, and Bono East.
Furthermore, there was no such region as Bono for Nana Damoah to have served as its chairman until recently, when the national office mandated the formation of the area and the holding of elections to elect its executives.
In order to enable the retirement of a loan facility obtained from a bank, Mr. Asante said that the organisation made the decision to allow Nana Damoah and all executives, from regional branches to the national levels, to serve terms in excess of those intended by law.
Ruling
According to the court's decision, Nana Damoah has been in office since 2001, and up to the division of the area, he served as the chairman of the Brong Ahafo Regional Committee.
The Bono Region is not necessarily created when Bono East and Ahafo are carved off from Brong Ahafo, according to the court.