The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has turned down the filing fee of the 275 parliamentary candidates of the Independent Peoples Party (IPP).
The GH₵2,750,000 filing fee for the parliamentary candidates of the IPP was bagged in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ and presented to the EC but was rejected.
Surprisingly, the GH₵50,000 presidential filing fee of the IPP was presented in Banker’s Draft.
The filing fee for the parliamentary candidates was pegged at GH₵10,000 each.
Kasapa News’, Kwaku Opare, who is stationed at the headquarters of the EC reports that the filing fees for the IPP parliamentary candidates were presented to the EC by the party’s 2016 presidential candidate, Kofi Akpaloo.
However, the amount was rejected by the Chairperson of the Commission, Madam Charlotte Osei who insisted that the rules of the “game” must be adhered to.
Per the directive of the EC, filing fee for both presidential and parliamentary candidates must be presented to the Commission in Bankers Draft.
Kwaku Opare further reports that the EC after examining the money directed Mr. Akpaloo to go to the bank and change the money into bankers draft and present it.
Akpaloo, according to our reporter, presented the money at exactly 11:50am.
But the EC has given an indication that it will not accept any filing fee after 12:00pm on Monday.
It therefore, remains to be seen whether the IPP will meet the deadline for the submission of filing fees.
Akpaloo in an interview with Opare said he was confident the EC will accept the filing fee in Banker’s Draft when it is presented later in the day.
“This money was issued by the Government of Ghana as legal tender for any transaction. I was using it to pay for the filing fee of our parliamentary candidates but I am surprised that a government institution is rejecting the same money it has been issued as a legal tender.
“They [EC] have told us to go and change the money into Banker’s Draft so my people are going to do it and anytime they finish we will present it,” he noted.
When asked whether the delay will not trigger his disqualification, he retorted “not at all. I have met all the requirements and so the EC cannot disqualify me.”
