Oliver Barker-Vormawor, convener for #FixTheCountry Movement has chided the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for pegging their filing fee for the presidential primaries at a whopping GH¢500, 000, saying it will shift the contest in favour of the highest bidder.
According to him, a major political party that prides itself on being social democrats should not organize an election that seeks to elect a flagbearer who might eventually become the president of Ghana and clandestinely make it a preserve of only the wealthy.
NDC has officially announced that it will hold primaries for its presidential and parliamentary aspirants on May 13.
Filing of nominations will take place between Wednesday, February 22 to Friday, February 24, and the filing fee for the flagbearer contest is GH¢500,000.
But Barker-Vormawor took to his Facebook page to criticize the exorbitant filing fee, arguing it amounts to monetizing the country’s electoral system.
“It is twice shameful that a party that considers itself of a social democrat orientation will create an impression that the Presidency is organized in Favour of the highest bidder. It sends the wrong message also in a time of economic crisis,” he wrote.
“In the US, party filing fees range between zero and not more than 2% of the base salary of the office you are vying for. Even that, if you are able to collect a number of signatures of eligible voters, the filing fees are wiped.
Per capita income of US citizens is over 70,000 dollars and around 2000 dollars for Ghanaians.”
Meanwhile, the filing fee for the parliamentary primaries has also been pegged at GH¢40,000.
