We are not broke - CPP

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has dismissed assertions that the party has run out of money to manage its affairs.

The party on Monday opened nominations for its presidential candidate slot and pegged its flagbearership filing fees at GHC 150,000; an mount many have criticized as being too high.

However, the National Youth Organizer of the CPP, Ernesto Yeboah in an interview on Radio Ghana asked that “if the CPP is broke, why would we be charging GHC 150,000 for filing and GHC 50,000 for development fees?”

He explained that the leadership of the party pegged the amount at GHC 100,000 because of the exiting economic hardship within the country.

“Don’t forget, the general economic condition in the country is very bad. We have a government that is mismanaging the economy, running down almost everything…you couldn’t have expected that under such an incompetent management of the economy, we will still have our filing fee at GHC 20, 000,” he remarked.

He added that “companies have collapsed; the youth are postponing their marriages, some are running away from this country by trekking on the desert…all of these things are happening simply because we have an incompetent government.”

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) pegged its filing fees at GHC 50,000 but according to Mr. Yeboah, the CPP is not prepared to compare itself to the governing party.

“This is the CPP and that is how we have chosen to run our party. We can’t pretend that the economy is good; the economy is bad which is why we have to peg our fees at that level and for members of the party to demonstrate our confidence in the party.”

According to the National Youth Organizer, unlike ruling parties who have national confers at their disposal to dip their hands into, the CPP is determined to build the party with the help of its members.

“Nobody will build the Conventions People’s Party for us. It is the members who would have to show the confidence they have in the party before members of the public would come and help us with their one cedi and with their 20 pesewas to come and help us build our party. They say charity begins at home and the CPP is following that particular adage,” he said.

He argued that if he had a million dollars, he would have donated that to the party to carry out its activities during the 2016 campaign period.

He insisted that there is nothing “wrong with the filing fees especially since it is not our fault.”