Campaign financing, abuse of incumbency bane of nation’s democracy — GII

The influence of money in elections, unchecked advantages of incumbency and the harmful practice of vote buying do not only undermine the integrity of elections, but also erode the trust of citizens in the country’s democratic institutions, the Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has said.

She said the youth, including women and the vulnerable, were also alienated from the political space as a result of the excessive monetisation of the country’s democracy.

Mrs Addah cited an assessment report by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Westminister Foundation to buttress her claims.

According to the report, an average candidate needs about GH¢389,803, approximately $85,000, to secure a party’s primaries nomination to compete in a parliamentary election.

Event

The executive director was speaking at the launch of a project to monitor campaign spending, abuse of incumbency and vote buying in this year’s  general election.

The project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), is aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in the country's electoral process.

The initiative is being implemented by the GII Consortium, comprising the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and CDD-Ghana.

Data on campaign financing would be gathered and a platform created for stakeholders to push for reforms of the prevailing system.

Challenges

Mrs Addah further observed that the country’s campaign financing and political party funding laws had significant gaps, adding that the current regulations did not provide for direct public funding of political parties.

“The law remains unclear on whether only persons, and not companies, can make donations, yet it is common knowledge that businesses, including foreign entities, contribute to political parties. “There is no limit to donations, as such, much of the funding parliamentary candidates receive goes unaccounted for,” she said.

The executive director further said that “while vote buying is technically illegal, it is widely ignored, and no law prohibits the use of public resources for campaigns, leading to rampant abuse of incumbency”.

She added that disclosure laws did not require parties to identify their donors because the regulations applied only to political parties and not individual candidates, thus undermining financial transparency in elections.

Mrs Addah also mentioned the abuse of state resources such as government vehicles, public events for party purposes, manipulation of state media and the improper use of security agencies, which she said were not new in the country’s political landscape.

The executive director, therefore, said it was in response to those challenges that the project had been launched to create awareness and advocate  a comprehensive party and campaign financing reforms in the country.

She said this would ensure that elections were won on ideas and policies, not on the weight of financial backing or incumbency advantage.

Inclusiveness

The Senior Election Specialist of IFES Ghana, Gilbert Sam; Director of Programmes, CDD-Ghana, Frederick Adu Gyamfi, and Chief of Party, USAID's Political Accountability Activity, Sunday Alao, took turns to speak of the relevance of the project which they said would go a long way to sustain and make the country’s democracy more inclusive.