Former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice ( CHRAJ), Justice Emile Francis Short has accused politicians of shamelessly looting the state coffers in order to recover campaign funds.

The former judge and academic said that the campaigning to get elected in Ghana is expensive and politicians tend to do everything possible to recover the monies expended to get into political office.

“And if you’re elected, what happens – and this is an open secret- is that they will do everything they can by hook or crook to recover their expenses by raiding the public purse,” he bemoaned.

For him, whether politicians expend their own resources or are sponsored, they do whatever possible usually through corrupt practices to pay back their sponsors or have their money back.

“When they (politicians) have been sponsored by individuals or organizations, the latter expects to get a return for their investment hence the award of contracts, invariably inflated contracts, or appointments to positions and sometimes these appointments are not made on the basis of merit which leads to weak institutions,” he stressed.

He, therefore, called for discussions on campaign financing which has been abandoned to be revived so that a way to finance political activities can be fashioned out in order that corruption can be brought to the barest minimum.

Recently in the primaries of Ghana’s two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), enormous amounts were spent on filing fees and campaigning with both parties accusing each other of vote-buying.