The reason behind the proposed law on the increase of nomination fees is unjustified, says Member for Goilala William Samb.
Samb has come on board to support Pangu Party and Deputy Opposition Leader, Sam Basil, to challenge the proposed nomination and election petition fee amendments in court.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill recently confirmed his plans to increase the candidate nomination fee from K1,000 to K10,000, and fees for election petitions from K5,000 to K20,000.
O’Neill claims that amendments are necessary as elections were costly and the increase would assist Electoral Commission to generate funds in instances of costs in running the elections.
However, Samb highlighted that EC is a department that receives funding from the government therefore it is part of the Government’s responsibility to provide that funding.
He said if the lack of funding is the reason for the increase in the nomination fee then it’s not justified as the Government should have funding available to conduct elections.
Samb added that if there’s no funding then the government has mismanaged and failed to fulfill its purpose to ensure that necessary resources are allocated to this department to function.
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