High party filing fees could exclude grassroots members from leadership – Prof Azar

Ghanaian legal scholar and social commentator Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, known affectionately as Kwaku Azar, has questioned the cost of contesting national executive positions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He cautioned that high filing fees and delegate transportation expenses could make political leadership inaccessible to ordinary party members.

In a social media post on Monday, October 12, Prof Kwaku Azar compared the parties’ filing fees and highlighted increases in the NDC’s charges between 2018 and 2026.

He also questioned why aspirants are expected to bear delegates’ transportation costs, arguing that the combined expenditure could be put to more sustainable use by the parties.

"Parties that claim to represent the ordinary Akweley and Amadu must not make leadership unaffordable to ordinary people," he wrote.

Prof Azar cited reports that Nana Akomea, NPP National First Vice Chairman, paid GH¢400 per delegate for transportation, which he estimated could amount to GH¢2.8 million for more than 7,000 delegates.

The legal scholar also compared filing fees announced by the NDC with those charged by the NPP for selected national executive positions.

According to the figures he presented, the NDC is charging GH¢100,000 for the national chairmanship position, compared with GH¢50,000 for the same position in the NPP.

The NDC’s filing fee for General Secretary is GH¢80,000, against GH¢25,000 for the NPP.

The legal scholar further contrasted the NDC’s current fees with those charged in 2018, when the party was in opposition, citing increases from GH¢10,000 to GH¢100,000 for national chairman and from GH¢8,000 to GH¢80,000 for general secretary.

He questioned whether the increases could be justified by inflation, administrative expenses or other election-related costs, and called on the parties to disclose their budgets and explain how the fees were determined.