The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has advocated state funding for internal party elections, demanding that the Electoral Commission (EC) organise such polls at no cost to political parties.
According to him, since parties are effectively assisting citizens to exercise their democratic rights, the state ought to absorb the financial burden associated with expanded voting processes.
His call follows the Supreme Court’s landmark 5–2 majority decision on July 29, which declared the traditional delegates system unconstitutional and instructed all political parties to allow every member in good standing to vote directly for presidential and parliamentary candidates.
Recalling the NDC’s 2014 internal elections, where the party opened up the voting process to all members, Asiedu Nketiah highlighted the immense financial strain it imposed.
He disclosed in an interview on Joy News that the exercise forced the party to open over 8,000 polling stations to ensure accessibility in rural areas, incurring massive expenses without financial backing from the EC.
“There are certain electoral areas that are made up of clusters of villages, and in that case you will have more polling stations in the villages so that you don’t ask people to travel, and so we ended up opening more than 8,000 polling stations and the Electoral Commission took the view that this was a private election whose costs must be borne exclusively by the party.
“The Electoral Commission recruited about four polling officials for each polling station and we had to pay them and pay all the costs of the materials. The Electoral Commission didn’t contribute a pesewa, and so in the end, in those days, we spent close to GH¢14 million in 2014.
“So my expectation is that even though the system is good, since we are being compelled to help citizens exercise their civic and democratic rights, it sits very well if you ask the state to budget for this exercise so that the Electoral Commission can conduct it free of charge.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana