News:
January 19, 2011
The Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, has warned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against charging exorbitant parliamentary nominations fees, as it will have dire consequences for the party.
Aspiring parliamentary candidates, who intend to contest on the ticket of the NPP during the forth coming general elections in 2012 , are to pay a whopping GH¢30,000, plus GH¢6,000 to the party’s development fund, while incumbent Members of Parliament who intend to re-run are expected to pay between GH¢1500 to GH¢ 20,000 plus GH¢6000.
The filing fees proposed by the party’s Steering Committee and yet to be accepted by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party, are expected to generate income to enable the party run a very comprehensive campaign during the upcoming 2012 general elections.
Speaking on Adom Fm’s Dwaso Nsem program, the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, who described the filing fees as outrageous stated that the move will definitely discourage many party members in good standing who wish to contest any of the seats.
“In as much as the party is in opposition and require enough funds to run our campaign, this high fee will subtly ward off the not too resourceful aspirants, money should not be used to deny party members of their democratic rights’’ he said.
Hon. Kennedy Agyepong, urged the party to learn from past events and not repeat previous mistakes that marred the party’s constituency elections in the run-up to the 2008 elections, which later created a lot of disaffection among party members.
“These among other decisions by the party leadership led to a lot of disagreement resulting in some people running as independent candidate, which cost the NPP its electoral fortunes’’he added.
Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh