CPP Ready To Pay Ghc100,000 Filing Fee – Greenstreet

Flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet says the party is ready to pay the GHS100,000 presidential filing fee announced by the Electoral Commission (EC).

He noted that although CPP is in talks with the EC to consider reviewing the amount downwards, it will not be discouraged in its efforts to serve the country if the amount is maintained.

Mr. Greenstreet spoke to Citi News during a dinner with the leadership of CPP and foreign ambassadors to Ghana.

“We have reached out to the EC to find out whether the amount is a figure that will be reduced. We believe we want a multiparty democracy and not monetocracy or duopoly. We want all Ghanaians to be able to participate in the electoral process. So we will continue to engage the EC to try and ensure that we achieve those ideals and aims. If it doesn’t work, in the same way, we are compelled to pay high fuel and electricity prices, we will also have to suffer and pay the high filing fees.”

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the CPP, Nana Akosua Frimponmaa Sarpong-Kumankumah says if the CPP is voted for in the 2020 general elections, it will ensure that all abandoned projects by previous governments are completed.

Earlier, the CPP had criticised the increment and accused the EC of a lack of transparency.

“There should be some democratic precedence here and some transparency in the whole thing. This is an institution that overlooks a democratic process, and they are not democratic themselves,” the CPP's General Secretary, Nana Yaa Jantuah, said in a Citi News interview.

According to her, the EC failed to consult the various political parties before agreeing on the increment.

“The CPP believes that there was no consensus making. IPAC did not meet. We were there and we were told that the filing fee for the presidential candidate is GHS100,000 and the parliamentary one is GHS10,000,” she said.

“Is it the exchange that has affected it? Is it the economy? If there is some change in parameters, why is it that the parliamentary fees remain the same from four years ago? That is an issue of concern.”

EC's justification

The EC has said the increment is in tandem with the value of the Cedi .

A Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Bossman Eric Asare, said if the value of GHS50,000 in 2016 and 2020 was compared, “you will notice that the Commission has not increased it much.”

“And even when you look at the [filing fee for] parliamentary [aspirants], the GHS10,000, you will realise that the Commission has reduced the price because we all know that GHS10,000 in 2016, is not the same as GHS10,000 in 2020,” Dr. Asare said.

— citinewsroom