The former Member of Parliament for the La Dadekotopon constituency, Nii-Amasah Namoale, has described the decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to chargeGHC400,000.00 filing fee as outrageous.
The NDC has announced that it would charge GHC 20,000.00 for nomination forms for the flagbearership race and GHC400,000.00 as a filing fee.
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The decision appears to have irked Mr Namoale who said it was a means of selling the party to aspirants.
“This is wrong and clearly shows we are selling the party to the highest bidder which is not supposed to be so,” he said.
“We are social democrats and are expected to do things that will get the ordinary Ghanaian to join the party but this shows civil servants cannot be a part of our race because his or her entire pension savings cannot sum up to this amount [sic],” he explained.
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However, the deputy General Secretary, Barbara Asamoah, in the same interview objected to the assertion of Mr Namoale, attributing the High filing rate to economic hardships.
“Times have changed and things have become very expensive so we have to make room for the change. The candidates have to be resourceful and have the capability to carry us into victory 2020” she opined.
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“If you can’t raise GHC400,000.00 as a nomination fee to help organise successful primaries, then it is obvious you can’t help the party and can’t help yourself to run the 2020 campaign. Elections in Ghana are all about money and you need to prepare to meet the standard,” she added.
The NEC of the NDC, after a meeting on Thursday, agreed to the GH¢400,000 non-refundable filing fee for flag bearer aspirants of the party and GH¢ 20,000 non-refundable nomination form fee with the election set for January 19, 2019.