Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, a former Speaker of Parliament, has condemned the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) decision to charge the presidential aspirants a GH¢4 million development fee.
Reports suggest that the current arrangement, NPP presidential aspirants are to pay GH¢100,000 for nomination forms, GH¢500,000 for filing, and an additional GH¢4 million as a development levy to support the party.
According to Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye, the so-called GH¢4 million development fee is a bubonic plague.
He noted that a political party is not for sale, arguing that the development fee is turning the party’s internal election into an auction.
Prof. Oquaye warned in an interview with the Daily Graphic, saying, “The GH¢4 million so-called development fee is a bubonic plague. Moneycracy is not democracy, and a political party must not be seen to be pursuing that pathway”.
Prof. Oquaye, who chaired the 12-member committee, warned that the policy could erode public trust and dent Ghana’s democratic image.
He added, “This is now a national concern. Under the 1992 Constitution, political parties must conduct their internal affairs in line with democratic principles”.
He further described it as “unreasonable, undemocratic, and contrary to the party’s founding values.”
Also, Paul Abdul Rahman Issah Dowuona, the Communications Director of Kwabena Agyepong’s campaign team, has said the former General Secretary is against the party’s GH₵4 million development fee.
According to Paul Abdul Rahman Issah Dowuona, despite controversy surrounding the payment of the GH₵4 million development fee, Kwabena Agyepong is still in the race.
He emphasised that the GH₵4 million development fee should not be a prerequisite for contesting the party’s flagbearership.
Speaking on Channel One TV, Paul Abdul Rahman Issah Dowuona stated, “The issue regarding this GH₵4 million payment — he has made it clear that in principle he is against it. The party has made its point, and they are saying that they have to pay that amount.
At vetting, he was asked, and he made his position clear, and even at the vetting, he committed that if it were about a development fee, he would commit to contribute substantially to the development of the party when the need arises. His issue has always been that it shouldn’t be a prerequisite for contesting the flagbearership of the party.
He further added, “Whatever it is, we are dealing with it internally, and so as far as you have not heard anything from the party officially that he has been taken out of the flagbearership race, it means that we are still in it. We are not going to make a view and cry about it in public. Whatever the issue, we will litigate and place it in the internal mechanism of the party”.
“As it stands, take it from me, as the director of communication, that we are still in the race. Tomorrow, God willing, we are going to go for our balloting,” he indicated.
Meanwhile, Samuel Atta Akyea, a former Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, has stated that any New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer aspirant who cannot raise the party’s development fee of GH¢4million is not even influential.
According to him, any aspirant who struggles to pay the party’s development fee is not fit to contest for the presidency.
Atta Akyea emphasised that a candidate’s inability to pay the GH¢4 million fee is a sign of a lack of influence and credibility.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, Atta Akyea stated, “If you are in opposition, you will raise money, so it is a sensible way to raise money.
If a man says he is credible and people should vote for him as a flagbearer, and he can’t raise GH¢4 million, that means he doesn’t count; he is not even influential. Who is telling you that you are the one going to pay the money?” he said.
The NPP’s GH¢4 million development fee on presidential aspirants has sparked widespread criticism and raised questions about the party’s democratic principles.