One of the aspirants in the upcoming National Democratic Congress presidential primary, Mr Alban S.K Bagbin has given indications that he will exit the race if the party’s Council of Elders fail to impress on the national executives to reduce the filing fee of GHC400,000.
He said his decision had become necessary because the GHC400,000 filing fee and GHC20,000 cost of nomination form meant that only the elite within the NDC could lead it.
Speaking on Otec FM’s Breakfast Show, ‘Nyansapo’ on Monday December 3, 2018, Mr Bagbin who is also the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament said although he could mobilize the amount, he believed in the principle of inclusion.
“I will not pick the form if the amount is not reviewed. I joined the NDC because of its belief in inclusion irrespective of your background. It looks as though now everything is about money, money, not leadership qualities,” he said.
He said it appeared the national executives of the party were trying to tilt the race in favour of one candidate.
“It doesn’t look like the National executives are offering everybody a level playing field,” he stated.
He said monetisation of the process had the tendency to breed corruption because it meant the winner must necessarily reward the big contributors to the campaign.
Petition
Otecfmghana.com has intercepted a common petition that has been signed by the eight aspirants and addressed to the opposition party’s National Council of Elders that among other reliefs wants a reduction in the filing and nomination fees.
Alban Bagbin, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Stephen Atubiga, Nurudeen Iddrisu, Goosie Tanoh, Kojo Bonsu and Elikplim Agbemava want the nomination fees, or fees for collection of forms, to be pegged at GH¢ 5,000 and filing fees reduced to GH¢100,000.
The petitioners are also alleging, among other things, a breach of procedure in announcing guidelines for the primaries on January 19; the imposition of unreasonable filing fees by a small group within the party’s National Executive; and bias by this same group against other flagbearer aspirants.
Rawlings expresses concern
Former President JJ Rawlings has expressed concern about the whopping increase in the filing fee for the presidential primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and called on the party’s National Executive Committee to take a second look at the decision.
The Founder of the NDC cautioned that certain actions or decisions could either be a reflection of the circumstances of the NDC’s birth or “mark a departure from where we are coming from as a party”.
“I doubt if anyone of us who has served with integrity, relying on our salaries can raise these filing fees unless we engaged in some unethical behaviour while in office; Unless we abused or misused our positions during our tenure,” the Founder said.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
