The Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) has reduced the filing fee for flagbearer hopefuls to GH?300, 000 from the initial GH?400, 000.
The decision was taken after a meeting today at the party’s headquarters in Accra. The council of elders have also extended the closing date for the picking of forms to Saturday December 8. The date for election of the party’s flagbearer has also been moved to January 26th 2019.
This comes after some aggrieved flagbearer aspirants boycotted the processes for the presidential primaries.
In a petition, they accused some members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) of bias and said they could not be trusted to ensure a free process.
Alban Bagbin, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Stephen Atubiga, Nurideen Iddrissu, Goosie Tanoh, Kojo Bonsu, Elikplim Agbemava and Joshua Alabi, petitioned the Council of Elders demanding a reduction of the amount.
The National Executive Committee of the NDC took a decision at its meeting last Thursday, which was communicated through a press conference addressed by the General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia that nomination forms should sell at GH¢20,000 and GH¢400,000 for filing.
The announcement of the exorbitant fees was greeted with several criticisms locally and internationally. Some CSOs issued statements criticising it and pointing out that the decision could lend credence to the corruption tag hanged on NDC before the 2016 elections, which largely affected the fortunes of the party.
But some members of NEC have argued that the party needs money to organise the flagbearership election, and for running the party’s affairs in opposition.
-Starrfmonline