Mahama proposes political party funding bill, body to oversee state-funding of parties

Former President John Mahama has proposed a political party financing bill as the country take steps in encouraging the state to fund political parties.

Speaking on the transparent and ethical financing of political campaigns today, Wednesday, March 22 at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) he said the debate on ethical campaign financing had been a major topic as old as Ghana’s republic.

The programme was on the theme “Financing political campaigns in Ghana we want: A case for more transparent and broad-based citizen participation.”

In his view, Ghana at the moment cannot absorb additional expenditure streams associated with political party financing because it is struggling to secure an IMF bailout.

In his address, Mr Mahama said the proposed political funding bill would determine the modalities for the funding and how the political parties would be selected to ensure fairness and transparency.

He said there should also be an independent non-political body established to regulate the funding of political parties.

He argued that the issue of political party financing is crucial especially when recent research findings by bodies such as CDD-Ghana have shown that funding had come from illegal activities such as illegal mining, oil bunkering, fraudulent businesses, and procurement deals in the award of contracts among others.

He also stated that the study found a strong link between political party funding and organized crime in Ghana, which could lead to a situation in which only a few wealthy individuals rule the country.

He stated that political parties are state political institutions, and we cannot ignore how they are funded.

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