Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), lawyer Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, has justified why the umbrella family is charging aspiring presidential candidates GHc420, 000 for their nomination forms and filing fees.
According to Serwaa Asamoah said, the cost of printing of ballot papers, the services that would be rendered by the Electoral Commission (EC) during the January 19 primaries among other expenses will demand money.
She asserted that these and many other factors were considered in determining the GHc42, 000 cost for the presidential primaries.
The NDC has pegged the filing fee for its presidential candidate race, which is set for January 19, 2019, at GHc 400, 000.
Immediately after the figure was announced, Ghanaians took to social media to lament the cost which they described as an act of opulence.
But lawyer Serwaa Asamoah speaking in an interview on Accra based radio station said the figure is justified because managing a presidential primary in a party with over 300, 000 delegates, is not an easy task.
‘’The NDC is not a profit making organization and so if individuals willing to contest the race must be financially strong and willing to bear part of the cost for the presidential race,’’ she said.
“Resources generated by the party through the payment of dues would not be enough to manage the congress hence the reason why we arrived at the figure,” she added.
By: Joseph Nii Ankrah