PPP National Secretary, Papa Kow AckonL
The leadership of the Progressive Peoples Party and Convention People’s Party have lamented the ‘high cost’ of the Electoral Commission‘s GH¢100,000 presidential nomination filing fee for the December 7 elections.
The National Secretary of the PPP, Papa Kow Ackon disclosed that the EC should have held consultations before putting up such a fee, sighting the 2016 charge as a yardstick.
“They have taken this decision without consulting IPAC [Inter Party Advisory Committee]…we find it a bit troubling that this decision has come at this time.”
“We all know the fee for 2016, the EC charged about GH¢50,000 and so for this to be increased by over 100 per cent, this is just not on,” Papa Kow Ackon said in an interview on Joy Fm.
Papa Kow Ackon explained that the EC could have done better by taking into consideration how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected businesses and the economy.
However, he added that leadership of the party will deliberate on the issue on September 16 to determine their fate in filling for the elections.
“It is a difficult decision, we are in a difficult moment in our history and it is important if the EC is making decisions, it must factor all the economic challenges people are going through in this country. We should not fix fees at that high level and say that becoming a president is a tough thing or a serious thing and so anyone who expresses interest must cough some high fees.”
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) who also shared a similar concern about the fee questioned why the price for aspiring members of parliament was retained.
The General Secretary, Nana Yaa Juantuah, “Whatever it is, we should know the reason for the increase. Why did they leave the parliamentary one at the same level (GH¢10,000)?
Presidential and parliamentary aspirants for December 7, 2020, Elections in Ghana are to file their nomination from October 5th to 9th, 2020, the Electoral Commission (EC) has announced.
The timeline for filing of nominations for the presidential and parliamentary races has been set for October 5th to 9th, 2020.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
