GACC calls on government to audit accounts of political parties

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) is calling on the state to audit all financial accounts of political parties in the country.

According to the anti-corruption institution, religiously monitoring and supervising the financial accounts of political parties will reduce corruption and avert the monetization of Ghana’s politics.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Beauty Emefa Narteh, the Executive Secretary of GACC explained that the current state of allowing political parties to audit their own accounts and submit reports to the Electoral Commission defeats the purpose of ensuring Ghana’s sovereignty and fight nefarious financial conducts for which the provision was set under Ghana’s Political Parties Act, 2000 (ACT 574).

“The Political Parties Act, 2000 (ACT 574) provides that, political parties shall within six months from 31 December of each year, file with the EC, the state of their accounts, sources of its funds, properties the party owned and time of acquisition. This was to ensure that no external person, force or institution sponsors political parties as it can go a long way to impede our sovereignty as a state. The provision was to supervise and monitor that all sources of funding were clean, but how can we trust politicians to render a true report of their accounts to the state?” Emefa Narteh explained.

She added, “imagine what happens if a money launderer sponsored a party to office, or if a foreign entity sponsors the country contrary to the provisions of the Political Parties Act.”

Reacting to recent cases of vote buying and the monetizing of politics, the Executive Secretary of GACC believes that political parties should fund delegates during election to avoid situations where the richest candidate can buy the support of electorates.

She said, “To prevent situations where votes of delegates are bought by candidates who provide delegates with monies for transportation and food, political parties can take up the responsibility of sponsoring the transportation and food of delegates from dues and filing fees. This would ensure that, anyone who is capable of contesting for a position would come forth irrespective of their financial status.”

The Executive Secretary made these assertions at a regional media engagement organized in the Eastern region to unravel the impact of Serious Organised Crime(SOC) on electoral integrity.

The event was organized by GACC in collaboration with the Ghana Integrity Initiative(GII), Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), and funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).



EAN/OGB

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