Development consultant and researcher, Dr. Elvis Banoemuleng Botah, has defended the practice of charging high fees for political party flagbearer hopefuls.
According to him, political organisations are expensive to run and such levies are necessary for their development.
His comments come in response to public criticism following revelations that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was charging presidential aspirants GH₵4 million in addition to a GH₵60,000 filing fee, as revealed by flagbearer hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong.
Speaking on Metro TV on Tuesday, September 9, Dr. Botah said the financing of political parties is a challenge, and the fees help the parties to be able to sustain themselves.
“Running political organisations is so expensive and we’ve all been crying about the monetization of our politics because of some of these things,” he stated.
Dr. Botah explained that the fee is intended to support the cost of internal party operations and also acts as a safeguard against unserious candidates.
“The purpose of taking this development levy is to ensure that the party is able to rise up to financing the huge cost that accompanies this internal politics,”he said.
Adding, “The philosophical basis for it is for it to serve as a filter,” explaining that this prevents just anybody from picking up forms.
He stressed that both major parties, the NPP and NDC, have long implemented similar charges, and it is misleading to suggest that such levies are new.
He said, “It will be hypocritical for anybody to sound that the charging of development levy as part of our nomination prices is novel.”
Drawing from personal experience, Dr. Botah noted that he had twice contested for the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency parliamentary seat and paid nomination and filing fees each time, which included a development levy.
“Why then are people crying? In all presidential and parliamentary nominations, this element of development levy has always been part of it.”
Dr. Botah emphasized that party members cannot pretend to be unaware of why such fees are charged.
He noted that while the amounts may be debated, the principle behind them remains valid.
“In any event, we need seriously minded people who are capable both with material and intellectual resources to become flagbearers to lead this party back into government.” he said.
