NPP Cannot Sell Leadership: The GHS 4.5 Million Filing Fee Is an Insult to Our Democracy
There comes a time in every political tradition when silence becomes betrayal. The New Patriotic Party has reached that point.
How did we arrive at a place where a presidential aspirant must pay GHS 4.5 million to exercise the basic right of internal political participation? Out of this amount, GHS 4 million is labeled as “party development fees,” with only GHS 500,000 being the actual cost of nomination forms.
Let us be blunt this is not fundraising. This is monetization of leadership. This is the commercialization of internal democracy. This is not the NPP that Danquah, Busia, and Dombo envisioned. This is not the NPP we sold to the Ghanaian people as the party of merit, competence, and fairness.
Instead, we are gradually becoming a franchise where leadership is auctioned to the highest bidder. If this continues, then we are no longer electing leaders we are buying them.
Competent Patriots Silenced by Financial Barriers
Let it be clearly stated: Joe Ghartey, Boakye Agyarko, Addai-Nimo, Edmund Oppong-Peprah, and Patrick Yaw Boamah did not step back because they lacked competence or courage. They stepped back because they felt insulted by a GHS 4 million levy placed as a barrier to entry.
Ask yourself how can a serious party intentionally price out experienced patriots like these?
Is this system designed to promote loyalty and vision or to reward those with deep pockets and questionable sources of income?
Call to Aspirants: Do Not Pay the GHS 4 Million “Development Fee”_
I strongly encourage aspirants who have not yet paid this GHS 4 million to take a stand:
Do not pay.
If your leadership is truly about service and principle, let this be your first act of courage. Refuse to endorse a system that seeks to sell leadership instead of earning it.
Special Prosecutor Must Investigate Candidates Who Casually Drop GHS 4 Million Overnight
Let us be honest which legitimate public servant or businessman can mobilize GHS 4 million in 48 hours without raising eyebrows?
If someone can pay GHS 4 million without hesitation, then their source of funding deserves more scrutiny than admiration. I challenge the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate any person who rushes to deposit such an amount.
Message to Chairman Hackman Owusu-Agyemang: You Were Not Appointed to Be a “Simpa Panyin”_
Elder Hackman, with all due respect, you were not appointed to be a ceremonial elder. You were not made National Chairman to nod to everything placed before you.
If all you do is preside while others pull the strings, then you are gradually becoming a “Simpa Panyin” a mere title-holder without influence.
_We expect courage, balance, and leadership not quiet compliance._
If the Party Sells Leadership, It Will One Day Sell Its Soul
The NPP must decide whether we are building a dynasty of integrity or an empire of transactional politics.
Today, we are selling access.
Tomorrow, we will sell loyalty.
One day, we may sell our conscience altogether.
We cannot afford to lose 2028. Our actions today will determine whether the Ghanaian people will see us as a party of vision or a club of privilege.
Let us restore dignity to leadership.
Let us return fairness to internal democracy.
Let us remember that political power should be earned not bought.
The soul of the party is at stake. Someone must speak. Let this be the beginning.
By; Baffour Asare

Comments