Pay CE filing fees to show seriousness

Politics of Thursday September 17, 2020

Source: Peace FM

2020-09-17

Atik Mohammed, former secretary general of the National People’s Convention (PNC), has supported the Electoral Commission’s call for presidential and parliamentary candidates for this year’s general elections to pay a filing fee of 100,000 and 10,000 Ghc respectively.

The Electoral Commission (EC) announced this on Monday, September 14, 2020, and asked the candidates to pay the fee using a bank draft.

In statements to the media, the president of the Electoral Commission, Madame Jean Mensa, said that “the presidential candidate must deposit an amount of 100,000 Ghc in the form of a draft from the bankers to the Commission, parliamentary candidates must deposit 10,000 Ghc in a form of a bankers project as well. We wish the best to all candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections, we trust that the nomination process will be efficient, smooth and orderly … “.

But some political parties have opposed the amount.

The parties argue that the fee for presidential hopefuls is excessively expensive and therefore asked the EC to reduce it.

Atik Mohammed reacted to the theme of Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ and shared opposing views with opponents.

According to him, the filing fee is a way to uproot people or political parties who want to play with the electoral process.

He believes that if an aspirant is really interested in participating in the race, he will find the right means to get the money.

For Atik, the fee is to “demonstrate that the person willing to pay this money is serious about the government of Ghana or helps run the affairs of Ghana. Therefore, it helps to separate the serious from the non-serious … How do many politicians finance their campaigns out of pocket? Not so many. The reason why it is easy for politicians to raise or mobilize resources for their campaigns is that when the electorates see that you are serious and have confidence in your vision, they themselves help you to raise resources to run their campaign. ”

He also disagreed with the popular notion that the country’s electoral system has been monetized, in the sense that if one is super rich, the person can use undue influence to buy his or her ticket to the presidential seat or Parliament.

But no matter how much money you have, if the electorate feels that you are not serious, it becomes difficult for you to have their support. So the elections are not about monetization, but just about showing that what you are doing is something that shows that you are serious and that you have a good vision for Ghana, “he said.

He further argued that political parties should not complain about the EC filing fee because in their internal policy, they also charge exorbitant amounts.

In his analogy, if party members can pay and run for a party seat, it shouldn’t be a hassle to pay the fee nationwide.

“I don’t think 100,000 is unreasonable … if within your party you are paying 30,000, 100,000 and all that, and at the Electoral Commission level, you say that 100,000 is expensive; then as a political entity, you are not very interested or you have other ideas as well as wanting to be president. Because if you are serious about being president, 100,000 shouldn’t be a difficulty, not for you as a person but for the organization. “