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General news for Monday, September 21, 2020
Source: GNA
2020-09-21
Principal Investigator of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Mr. Kwesi Jonah
Mr. Kwesi Jonah, Principal Investigator of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) has delved into the debate on the GH ¢ 100,000 filing fees charged by the Electoral Commission (EC) to presidential hopefuls who wish to participate in this year’s elections.
He alluded to the fact that the EC set the filing fees at ¢ 100,000 GH to prevent “serious and frivolous presidential candidates” from overloading the December 7 ballot.
Jonah told the media while analyzing the reason behind the EC’s decision to set filing fees at ¢ 100,000 GH for presidential hopefuls.
The IDEG research fellow dismissed claims by some Ghanaians and civil society organizations (CSOs) that the exorbitant fees charged by the EC were intended to raise funds to run their activities.
“I don’t think the EC wanted to raise money to run its operations because the amount is a mere deposit and when the political parties get 25 percent of the valid votes cast, they would get their money back.
It should be noted that the EC’s activities are funded by taxpayers, he added. However, Mr. Jonah was of the opinion that the EC should have presented its intention to increase the Filing Fees by 100 percent at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) for discussions and acceptance.
He advised the EC to pay attention to regulating the activities of political parties, rather than just worrying about organizing elections and demarcating electoral boundaries.
Meanwhile, Dr Alidu Seidu, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, warned that using money to control political party participation in an election could set a bad precedent for the nation’s democracy. .
However, he admitted that elections and money are interrelated and should be treated with caution.
He also blamed some politicians for creating a bad perception of politics due to his expansive lifestyle.
“Today, grassroots supporters of all political parties want to gain weight in the primaries because they see politics as a lucrative business due to the lifestyle of some politicians,” noted Dr. Alidu.
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