Professor Ransford Gyampo, a Senior Lecturer in the University of Ghana Political Science Department believes the move by the Electoral Commission of Ghana to peg the filing fees for Presidential Candidates at GH¢ 100,000 is to test the ability of the candidates to raise monies.
The Electoral Commission has pegged the filing fee for Presidential Candidates in the 2020 elections at GH¢ 100,000 whiles Parliamentary candidates are expected to pay GH¢ 10,000.
But the opposition NDC and other opposition political parties and Independent candidates are of the view that the money is exorbitant and needs to be reduced to make room for all participants to be able to contest for the election.
Speaking on the debate that the amount has generated in a video watched by MyNewsGh,com, Prof Gyampo backed the Electoral Commission’s decision to raise the amount by 100%.
The Political Science Lecturer said participation and Democracy come with hurdles and hindrances which have to be jumped and crossed to demonstrate a certain level of seriousness.
For him, for an individual to qualify to be a President, the individual is supposed to be able to raise funds hence there is no need backing an individual who cannot raise funds to become a President of Ghana.
“I think that to be a President one of the attributes or requirement or track records we should look at before we give you the opportunity to become President is your attribute to fundraise. You should be a fundraiser.”, he argued.
To him, the Electoral Commission is not asking the individuals to raise funds from their private resources to support in filing their nominations but is calling on them to learn how to raise funds as individuals who have the ambition of leading the country.
“My point is that if you are a Presidential hopeful worth your salt, then you should be able to raise this kind of money.”
On the argument that taking monies from people will get their hands tied to give their donors contracts when they don’t even deserve it, Prof. Gyampo argued against the perception. He said the kind of money politicians get to see when they are in power is more than GHC 100,000 and therefore no politician will feeling debted to someone because he/she contributed something to support his/her campaign.
