Presidential Filing Fee: EC is looking for the highest bidder, people with more money than brains, competence — Hassan Ayariga laments 

Flagbearer of the All People's Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga

Flagbearer of the All People's Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga, has voiced his disapproval of the Electoral Commission's (EC) decision to set the filing fee for presidential candidates at GH¢100,000 for the 2024 elections.

The EC recently announced the nomination fees for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, stating that male presidential candidates must pay 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.

In an interview with Kasapa FM, Hassan Ayariga expressed his concerns, stating, "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."

He continued, "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."

The EC has indicated that nomination forms for the elections will be available on their website starting Friday, August 2, 2024.

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

Additionally, parliamentary candidates are required to submit their forms in quadruplicate to the Returning Officer of the constituency they seek to represent.

The filing fee for parliamentary candidates is set at GH¢50,000 for males and GH¢37,500 for females and persons with disabilities.