NDC flag bearer aspirants to pay GHC400,000 as filing fee

Flag bearer aspirants for opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be paying GHC400,000 as filing fee whilst nomination forms will cost GHC20,000, the party has said.

It added that the filing fee for women and persons with disabilities will be GHC200,000.

The party, however, announced that it will select its flag bearer on Saturday, January 19, 2019.

These decisions were allegedly taken at an ongoing National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NDC.

The party is yet to decide on a schedule for the party’s parliamentary primaries.

The decision on the presidential primary comes barely two weeks after the party elected its national executives for the next four years.

Former president, John Dramani Mahama, the second deputy speaker of parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin and a former deputy finance minister, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, are among the notables who have declared intent to contest the primaries.

Others who have stepped up include the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Prof. Joshua Alabi; a former minister of trade and industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority, Sylvester Mensah.

Per the statutes of the NDC, the election of a flag bearer should have taken place by December 7, 2018, 24 months before the 2020 general elections.

However, the delegates’ conference was postponed and held on November 17, 2018, a change that subsequently affected the date for the election of a flag bearer.

This compelled the party had to introduce an amendment to its constitution to enable the flag bearer election to be held later than the December 7, 2018 date, a change that was successfully carried through at the party’s congress.