Introduction
Political party financing is the means by which the activities and budgetary requirements of political parties are met. Political party financing comes from individuals and organizations from both public and private sources to fund the training of key party officials, provide refreshments for guests at meetings and campaigns, pay for many other expenses and finance the development of policies and party manifestos.
In Ghana, there have been calls for the financing of political party activities by the state to ensure a level playing field for all political parties. It is largely felt that the financing of political parties by the state will ensure transparency and the protection of political parties from business and foreign organizations whose interests may not be aligned with those of the state.
The financing of political party activities by members through the regular payment of party membership dues, is however yet to be fully explored. Private financing of parties is usually made in the form of donations, sponsorships, or the direct supply of goods and services or bulk cash provision.
Financing of Political Parties
The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana has clearly outlined provisions for the financing of political parties in Ghana. The Political Parties Act (Act 574) also has provisions on the funding of political parties in Ghana. Key among the provisions, is the one that precludes non-citizens from providing funding to political parties in the country.
Ghana’s constitution provides for equal access to state-owned media by all presidential candidates during national elections. Government support for political parties in Ghana has in the past also come in the form of logistical support for election campaigns. What is received is however, often dependent on the number of seats won in previous elections and the votes received. This is to ensure some level of fairness in the distribution of public support to political parties.
Private financing of political parties is however usually from individual donations of cash, printed party paraphernalia (scarves, flags, T-shirts, etc.), loan of vehicles, office spaces, etc. Political parties also undertake fundraising events through dinners and special events.
The Financing Challenge
The nature and tenor of political party financing have changed over the years. With each election, more resources (particularly financial) are expended to prosecute the agenda of winning an election. The process of appealing to an electoral college for selection and eventually to represent a party is a tortuous one. Discussions with failed parliamentary aspirants of some key political parties have indicated that they lost purely because they paid less money to delegates of their parties who made the decision as to the one to represent them.
Emerging Issues
Political party financing has become a particularly troubling issue in Ghana and West Africa generally. While there are general rules about who can fund political parties, the issues around financing remain highly opaque. The quantum of money required for each round of elections tends to be huge. Consequently, some private support for political parties tends to come largely from questionable sources which give cause for grave concern.
These include the following:
• Financing from illegal mining activities: Ghana is a country very rich in mineral resources, particularly gold. However, access to these resources is not effectively controlled, leading to a free-for-all access system that has seen illegal miners making significant returns on investments in the area. While governments have sought to clamp down on this activity, the results have been mixed. Many government officials have been cited as complicit in illegal mining but none of them have been brought to book. The most outstanding allegations of complicity in illegal mining by government officials were made by a respected heart surgeon and former Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology, Prof. Frimpong Boateng.[1]
• Financing from crime and drug-related activities: It is estimated that the cost of securing a party’s selection at the primary level as a representative is between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand dollars. This is because the cost of activities leading up to winning the primaries of any political party has become very high. There are posters to print, as well as T-shirts, and distribution of other branded materials. Advertising costs generally tend to be high. Campaign interactions usually mean food, drinks, and transportation are provided for certain categories of people. To run an effective campaign, therefore, requires a lot of money which some parliamentary aspirants do not have. In such situations, wealthy individuals with an agenda to prosecute in parliament can support candidates with the possibility to win. When this happens, that candidate would then have to pay back by doing their bidding. These wealthy individuals, or special interest groups, then exert undue influence to their advantage.
. Money laundering activities: Money laundering is the concealment of the origins of money acquired through illegal means. The laundering is done with the intention of concealing the funds to make it seem as though it originated from a legitimate source. The large sums of money being discussed here are then used to support political activities in cash. Aning, Kwarkye, and Poku outlined some of these issues in a paper on Organized Crime on Governance in Developing Countries. The authors claimed that most of the money laundering in Ghana involves illicit funds stemming from narcotics, various forms of fraud and public corruption. Criminals laundering illicit proceeds “through investment in banking, insurance, real estate, automotive import, and general import businesses, and reportedly, donations to religious institutions.[2]
Efforts to launder monies from criminal activities have seen huge donations to political parties and investments in the real estate sector as a front to cover up. References have been made to drug traffickers with money having obtained seats in Parliament in the past and being hailed by their constituents on their release from prison.
What Can be Done?
As a sovereign state, Ghana needs to take bold decisions with respect to the financing of political parties that ensure the nation’s continued independence, maintenance of its territorial integrity, and the enjoyment of freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. Unless this issue is appropriately dealt with, political party financiers with dubious backgrounds and motives would control parliament and the executive and determine the direction the nation needs to take which would be detrimental to national development. Efforts must be made therefore, to:
• Strengthen and deepen transparency and disclosure requirements for financiers of political parties. To this end, political parties must publish their accounts as required by law and disclose the key donors and sources of financing. Additionally, it would be best to establish an independent body to enforce financing laws and regulations governing political parties.
• While public funding of political parties may be difficult, it should be possible for the state to provide minimum agreed support based on electoral performance and representation in parliament.
• Develop new anti-corruption measures that target political party financing to ensure greater disclosure compliance by parties.
Conclusion
The issue of illicit funding in Ghanaian politics is no longer just an accusation. The rising cost of political campaigns at both the primaries and the national levels has increased the tendency of political parties to seek financing from any available sources.
This development has resulted in political parties accepting financing from illicit sources such illegal mining of gold and other minerals, kickbacks from dubious contracts, and organized criminal gangs. References have been made to political figures being linked to illegal mining as well as the drug trade. Ghana has over the years shown that it is a stable country where nationals of all the states in West Africa can be found. It is, therefore home to many cultures with a youthful population which is set to double by the year 2050. Although challenged by many issues such as youth unemployment, poverty and illegal migration, it has significant potential as the hub for university education, health tourism, automobile development, and transshipment of goods. However, this potential can be seriously undermined if criminal elements get to control the electorate and ultimately decide who gets into Parliament. The very fibre of the parliamentary democracy practised in Ghana would be threatened.
CISA believes that now is the time to act to ensure the insulation of key individuals and political parties from criminal control and influence through political party financing. It can be done and must be done. Ghanaians, as a people, must have the will and act with determination to protect the present and the future from criminal manipulation.
[1] https://www.gnbcc.net/News/Item/6160
[2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08a40e5274a27b20004db/61000-kavanagh_crime_developing_countries_ghana_study.pdf
