Presidential Filing Fee: EC selling Ghana's electoral process to the highest bidder - Hassan Ayariga

Flagbearer of the All People's Congress (APC) Hassan Ayariga has criticized the Electoral Commission (EC)for setting the filing fee for presidential candidates for the 2024 elections at GH¢100,000.

The EC has announced the nomination fees for the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.

In a statement, the Commission indicated that male presidential candidates will be required to pay a nomination fee of GH¢100,000 while female candidates and persons with disabilities will pay GH¢75,000.

“Candidates vying for the position of President will be required to make a payment of One Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢100,000.00) at the time of submitting their Nomination Forms. Payment shall be by Banker’s draft and addressed to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission. Female Candidates and Persons with Disabilities are required to pay Seventy-Five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢75,000),” part of the statement read.

But commenting on the filing for presidential aspirants in an interview with Kasapa FM, Hassan Ayariga stated that the amount is too much considering the hard times Ghanaians find themselves.

"What I am saying is that the economy is hard in Ghana nowadays and it is not easy to come by GH¢10,000 not to talk of GH¢100,000. In the last election, when the EC declared that all Presidential candidates should pay GH¢100,000, I was strongly against it and I said that the economy of Ghana is so bad and that the salary of a Ghanaian citizen is less than GH¢10,000. That of a minister of state is less than GH¢15,000. So when you say ministers of state or candidates of any political party should pay GH¢100,000, it is outrageous because the economy of Ghana is tough now. How much is a Ghanaian earning compared to what the EC is asking for? What EC is trying to tell us is that Ghana is for the highest bidder.

"They are selling our electoral process to the highest bidder and they are telling us that they are looking for people with more money than more brains, more money than leadership, more money than competence. A high public earner like a minister of state takes home GH¢15,000.

"When will a minister of state who is competent but not corrupt, a patriotic citizen of Ghana save GH¢100,000 for just a filing fee? The bigger parties - the NDC and NPP are fine with it because they have been in power and embezzled funds and used government machinery to go around and campaign and so for them they don't care if you fix the filing fee at GH¢1 million. Parliament must come out and tell the EC to justify the filing fee," Hassan Ayariga stated.

According to the Commission, nomination forms for the elections will be available on their website from Friday, 2nd August 2024.

Candidates will have from Monday, September 9 to Friday, September 13, 2024, to submit their nomination forms.

Parliamentary candidates will be required to submit their forms in quadruplicate to the Returning Officer of the Constituency they seek to represent.

The Commission also disclosed that the filing fee for parliamentary candidates is fifty thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢50,000.00) for males and thirty-seven thousand five hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢37,500.00) for females and Persons with Disabilities.

KA/OGB

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