NPP suggest modalities for state funding of Parties

Accra, Nov. 6, GNA - The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday suggested two-prong modalities for state funding of political parties - administrative and campaign support. The administrative support should be given to political parties to take care of general administrative and operational expenditure after elections, to enable them to fulfil their duties in line with Article 55 (3) of the Constitution.
The support for campaign would help parties during the campaign season.
Mr Dan Botwe, NPP General Secretary, put forward the proposals at a day's symposium on: "Ghanaian Political Parties: Party Perspectives on the Public Financing of Political Parties," organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra.
He said: "The NPP whether in opposition or in government has taken a principled position that there is the need for the State to support political parties".
The NPP General Secretary also suggested that only parties that obtained at least five per cent of popular votes in the immediate past general election should be eligible for any form of funding. Mr Botwe said the funding should be based on the percentage of votes obtained during the elections by each party, when a party failed to field a Presidential candidate, its performance should be assessed by the number of seats obtained in Parliament.
For a party to qualify for campaign funding, Mr Botwe said it should file Parliamentary candidates in at least 80 per cent of the seats in Parliament.
The NPP also urged the Electoral Commission to be stringent in the enforcement of the laws governing filing of audited accounts by the political parties and apply the necessary sanctions.
He acknowledged that since 1992 political parties had benefited from some public funding through the donation of vehicles for campaign and free airtime by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
"The discussion, therefore, should not be whether there should be public funding of political parties or not, but how we improve upon the funding to make it more meaningful and beneficial to Ghanaians", he said.
Mr Kwesi Jonah, Acting Head of Governance Centre of IEA, said in spite of the consensus among the elite on public funding of political parties, "it should be recognized that there are still powerful voices of dissent that think the parties do not deserve the taxpayer's support".
Mr Jonah said others had argued that the state of the economy could not support funding of political parties, stressing "it is this about public funding for parties that has popular scepticism, created the momentum for the leadership of parties themselves to come out with their own thinking".
He said the existence of viable parties was an essential element of the democratic process.
Mr Jonah said in order to be viable, parties must have money raised within the ambit of legality, adding, "all the indications are that the parties are not having an easy time with money now; a way, therefore, must be found to assist the parties". 06 Nov. 03