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Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has asked the Electoral Commission to reduce the filing fees for the Presidential and Parliamentary nomination forms.

According to Mr. Baako, the filing fees are too huge and so, should be cut down for the prospective aspirants.

Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Kweku Baako listed amounts that the EC has been charging for the forms since 1992 and believes the 2016 filing fees are extremely exorbitant.

He noted that from 1992 to 2004, the Commission collected GHC 500 and GHC 20 for Presidential and Parliamentary forms respectively and in 2008, pegged the fees at GHC 5000 for Presidential and GHC 500 for Parliamentary.

Presidential and Parliamentary candidates were asked to pay GHC 10000 and GHC 1000 for the Presidential and Parliamentary forms respectively.

He therefore wondered how the figures could hike up to 50000 and 10000 cedis in 2016.

"...it’s very huge. You’ll know that the thing is loaded when you convert it to the old figures. I think it’s very huge. It would be okay if they reduce it.”

Kweku Baako further discounted some spurious claims about the EC's intent behind the filing fees, stressing that the Commission wants to check the waste that comes with filing for the nomination forms and not rather to squander the money as perceived by some critics.

According to him, the money will not go into the financial purse of the EC but to the government coffers through the consolidated fund.

Mr. Baako however advised dissenters to the filing fees to proceed to court for settlement over the issue.

“I would have wished it didn’t end up in the court but we are living in democracy. If there’s no agreement, then the only place you can mitigate our differences is in the appropriate forum which is the court. So, I’m not against those who will be going to court.”