Hassan Ayariga, the presidential candidate for the All People's Congress (APC), has condemned the Electoral Commission (EC) for establishing a GH₵100,000 filing fee for the 2024 presidential election.

He contends that the fee is excessively high, particularly in light of the current economic challenges facing Ghana.

“What I am saying is that the economy is hard in Ghana nowadays, and it is not easy to come by GH₵10,000, not to talk of GH₵100,000. In the last election, when the EC declared that all Presidential candidates should pay GH₵100,000, I was strongly against it and I said that the economy of Ghana is so bad and that the salary of a Ghanaian citizen is less than GH₵10,000.

"That of a minister of state is less than GH₵15,000. So when you say ministers of state or candidates of any political party should pay GH₵100,000, it is outrageous because the economy of Ghana is tough now. How much is a Ghanaian earning compared to what the EC is asking for? What EC is trying to tell us is that Ghana is for the highest bidder.

"They are selling our electoral process to the highest bidder and they are telling us that they are looking for people with more money than more brains, more money than leadership, more money than competence. A high public earner like a minister of state takes home GH₵15,000."

"When will a minister of state who is competent but not corrupt, a patriotic citizen of Ghana, save GH₵100,000 for just a filing fee? The bigger parties - the NDC and NPP are fine with it because they have been in power and embezzled funds and used government machinery to go around and campaign, and so for them, they don't care if you fix the filing fee at GH₵1 million. Parliament must come out and tell the EC to justify the filing fee,” Hassan Ayariga stated.

According to the Commission's statement, the nomination fee for male presidential candidates is set at GH₵100,000, while female candidates and those with disabilities will have a reduced fee of GH₵75,000.

“Candidates vying for the position of President will be required to make a payment of One Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵100,000.00) at the time of submitting their Nomination Forms. Payment shall be by Banker’s draft and addressed to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission. Female Candidates and Persons with Disabilities are required to pay Seventy-Five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵75,000),” part of the statement read.

The Commission has announced that nomination forms for the elections will be accessible on their website starting Friday, August 2, 2024. Candidates will have the window between Monday, September 9 and Friday, September 13, 2024, to submit their forms.