The newly endorsed Presidential Aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Brigitte Dzogbenuku has stated that, “Democracy is not expensive.”
This statement comes on the back of an interview on Pm Express, where she lamented that presidential candidates are demanded to pay exorbitant filing fees. The fees she says, has skyrocketed over the years.
“I mean it is ridiculous. If you are expecting us to come up with a GH¢100,000, then we are still going through the same issue of monetizing politics and politics determined by money and therefore, if one cannot afford that prizing fee, it disqualifies them even if they are capable of being candidates and being presidents. So, I think that should be looked at and hopefully, we hope that could be reviewed.
“Even GH¢50,000 then, was a big deal of money; GH¢100,000 is ridiculous. But we hope that, the CSO’s come and say something; speak about it and I think that they have already talked about how politics is monetized. If somebody is going to raise a GH¢100,000 to file; to be on the ballot paper, they must find that money and that is when, we start turning to all kinds of people to fund us; who will ask for their pound of flesh after the elections. We must look at it because, more and more will demand from the political parties and their flag bearers’ huge amount of money.”
The former Miss Ghana winner revealed that, corruption and money laundering is the ramification of political parties, requesting funding from the ‘rich and mighty’, to fund their elections.
“Why should we put aside all the values and qualities someone might bring on board, and reduce it to just money. Barack Obama became the President of the greatest country at the time and he didn’t take out a hundred thousand and whatever money he was supposed to pay from his own pocket, he raised it for the people who believed in his ideal and in his policies. So, let us go to the people and say do you believe in us? Come with us, help us and you will get there. If you have these expectations of the political parties, that is when corruption sets in.”
Also, aspirant Dzogbenuku iterated that, she has a strong conviction that the party led by herself will win elections because, she has the track record of having a positive relationship with the public.
“Like I said I am a Ghanaian, I have lived all my life in Ghana. I have a network of people I have worked with and I have relationship with, and if I start to recount, even from my childhood where I have lived, the interactions I have had with the people; the values and the policies I bring to the table, my school mates; my primary school mate, secondary, tertiary: they know me as a person; you know they know the person.
“As someone said to me; a woman who is a prime minister of another country, she says track record and all these things they are clothes we wear. What indeed you are is what you are at core and it is good for people to know what you are at core and, that matters to them all than all these clothes you put on by your achievement and that is what I am and that is what I am known for.”
She announced that, though the PPP in the 2016 election spearheaded by Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom had 1 percent of Ghanaian’s vote, she has targeted this year, 50 percent plus 1 vote.
