Parties Have No Reason To Complain

The flag bearer and the founder of the New Vision Party (NVP), Prophet Daniel Nkansah, has said other presidential and parliamentary aspirants “have no basis to complain about the filing fees being charged by the Electoral Commission (EC).”

He said any serious political party organising people across the country to solicit their votes and win general election must be able to raise GH¢5,000 to register a presidential candidate, adding that “I am even ready to pay GH¢ 100,000”.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic at his party's headquarters in Atico near Odorkor in Accra, Prophet Nkansah reminded the political parties that they must bear in mind that if they obtained 25 per cent of the valid votes cast the EC would refund the fees paid.

He said if the political parties believed in winning the elections they should not be worried about the amount.

A fortnight ago all the four political parties with representation in Parliament kicked against the filing fees announced by the EC for presidential and parliamentary candidates for the December polls.

Their argument was that the GH¢5,000 for presidential candidates and GH¢500 for parliamentary candidates were prohibitive.

The parties are the National Democratic (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC).

According to them, the EC was a state-funded institution that did not need the filing fees to run its operations for the December polls.

Another argument against the fees was the fact that the matter had not been discussed by the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).

Prophet Nkansah said he did not understand why old political parties, which claimed to be well-rooted in every nook and cranny of the country and were able to pay between GH¢10,000 and GH¢ 15,000 for their primaries were expressing resentment about what the EC was charging.

Concerning his running mate, Prophet Nkansah who had always claimed that the activities of his party were following the direction of God, however said “I will chose a Muslim as my running mate, based on claims by some Ghanaians that the party is for Christians alone.”

He said the person to be chosen must be God-fearing, responsible and ready to serve Ghanaians at all times.

He also added that the party executives were putting finishing touches to the party's manifesto which would be launched in two weeks' time.

Prophet Nkansah explained that the manifesto would primarily show how the party intended to create jobs for Ghanaians, modernise agriculture and improve education and health delivery.

Story by Donald Ato Dapatem