Stakeholders decry monetisation of politics

Some political stakeholders have warned that the growing influence of money in the country’s political party system undermines women's and youth participation and weakens merit-based selection of leaders. 

They said the high cost of filing fees and campaign costs had turned politics into a competition for the wealthy that discouraged committed grassroots activists and capable candidates without deep pockets.

They raised this concern during a panel discussion at the launch of a research report titled:' The Price to Participate: How Money in Politics Undermines Women and Youth Political Participation in Ghana’, by the Gender Center for Empowering Development (GenCED).

The speakers were a former Adentan parliamentary candidate and New Patriotic Party (NPP) communications member, Akosua Manu; a member of the communication team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Frank Asare, and a former Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim Hussain.

The other speakers were the Director of Gender, Youth and People with Disabilities (PwDs) at the Electoral Commission (EC), Abigail Amponsah Nutakor, and the Programmes Manager for Human Rights and Social Inclusion at Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana), Dr Michael Akagbor.

The speakers agreed that unchecked monetisation threatened democratic participation since most women and young aspirants had lots of potential and brilliant development ideas. 

Impact

Mr Asare said the monetisation practice had eclipsed loyalty and service within political parties, creating disillusionment among activists, warning that the trend would keep discouraging young people from political engagement.

“It doesn't matter your contribution to the party. It doesn't matter your commitment.

It doesn't matter your loyalty. When you show up to contest for a party position, people look at how deep your pocket is.

If this persists, it will kill political party activism and reduce the rate at which young people would want to participate in active politics,” he said.

Ms Manu said women faced both visible and hidden financial barriers that made political participation difficult.

She added that aside from the high cost of filing fees, urban constituencies imposed even higher costs through media engagements and social media campaigns.

“Beyond the fees that you pay, beyond your campaign day to day, be it security, food, your teams, volunteers, the hidden cost is the personal obligation that your voters or delegates will put on you,” she said.

Dr Akagbor said politics had shifted from a development-oriented process to a business practice, adding that this shift undermined democratic values at both party and national levels.

“The sad reality is that politics has been commodified, given that the one with the most resources gets the upper hand, and this excludes people who have the best ideas,” he said.
 

Reforms 

The speakers, however, called for party reforms, legal changes and strict adherence to affirmative action measures to restore inclusion and credibility in Ghana’s political system.

Hajia Hussain suggested that political parties needed urgent reforms to reverse this trend. 

She said parties should remove filing fees for women and youth, and align internal processes with the Affirmative Action Law.

She called for sustained education and awareness to help parties broaden participation and leadership opportunities.

For her part, Mrs Nutakor said the EC acted only as a referee in the political process; hence, it lacked the legal authority to regulate party filing fees.  

She added that a constitutional review could grant the authority the mandate to take the necessary remedial steps.