EC, reconsider decision
As the country tries to put its democracy on a sound footing, we must be circumspect as we take certain key decisions that affect stakeholders, especially political parties.
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The election management body, the Electoral Commission (EC), last Thursday announced the filing fees for aspiring presidential and parliamentary candidates.
For the presidency, the fee was pegged at GH¢50,000, while parliamentary candidates were to pay GH¢10,000.
Meanwhile, fees paid will be refunded to the parties if their candidates are able to obtain 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in the presidential election and 12 per cent in the parliamentary election.
This notwithstanding, one cannot argue that the fees should be pegged too low or too high for them be a disincentive and exclude many people from participating in the process by creating the perception that elections are for the highest bidders.
This is particularly the case if one considers the fact that there are 275 parliamentary seats. The GH¢10,000 appears whopping and the parties will have to dig deep into their coffers to raise the amount to cover all their parliamentary candidates.
Already, some of the political parties are up in arms against the decision for what they describe as astronomical increases in filing fees and have asked the EC to maintain the 2012 fees or reduce the announced fees drastically.
In their opinion, the EC wants to auction the country’s elections to the highest bidder and discourage other competent Ghanaians from contesting the polls.
It is worthy to note that the EC, in its press release issued last Thursday and signed by Mr Eric Dzakpasu, the Head of Communications, signalled its preparedness to consider a request made by some of the political parties for the fees to be reviewed downwards.
It is the contention of the Daily Graphic that the EC look at the concerns of the parties in order to carry along all stakeholders in fashioning a functional democracy for the country.
With barely 88 days to the presidential and parliamentary elections slated for December 7, nothing must be done by any stakeholder to engender needless controversy and suspicion.
Indeed, at this stage, decisions which will exclude a greater number of people from participating in the electoral process must be avoided, since that may rather dwindle the fortunes of majority of the people we seek to encourage to participate in the process.
Already, we have had cause to complain about the limited number of women in Parliament and other key positions.
It would be proper, therefore, for the EC to engage the political actors and other stakeholders in fixing the right fees and not create the impression that it has taken a unilateral decision.
In the 2012 elections, just four years down the lane, the EC fixed the filing fee for presidential candidates at GH¢5,000 and that for parliamentary candidates at GH¢1,000.
In the name of building our democracy, and a participatory one, care must be taken to embrace, instead of sacrificing the majority interest for that of the minority and the few who can afford.
