MP for Assin North Constituency, Kennedy Agyapong has described an alleged New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Primaries filing fee of GH¢36,000 for non-MPs as “a bogus proposal”, urging the party hierarchy to reject it.
Speaking on Adom FM, Mr Agyapong said the fee is too exorbitant and would lead to a poor showing by the NPP in the 2012 elections if it is endorsed. According to him, the party failed to address similar issues ahead of the 2008 general elections which contributed greatly to the party’s poor performance.
He alleged that the then NPP national and regional executives failed to impose sanity and order within the party, accusing then regional executives of supporting candidates who were sometimes unpopular with the electorate.
He also alleged that some NPP MPs were lobbying to stand unopposed in the up-coming NPP Parliamentary Primaries and questioned the motive since according to him, these were the very same people who opposed that idea when they were not MPs. The New Crusading Guide newspaper reported in its Wednesday, 19th January, 2011 edition that filing fees for non-MP contestants were GH¢30,000 plus GH¢6,000 as development fund.
The paper reported that on the other hand, incumbent MPs would pay between GH¢1,500 and GH¢20,000 plus the GH¢6,000 development fee.
