Research Analyst at Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Gilfred Asiamah, has disclosed that the weak link to funding for political parties stems from their membership base.
According to him, the challenge of having an appreciable number of unregistered members in a political party makes it impossible to rake in the needed revenue to run the affairs of the parties.
Following a report churned out by CDD-Ghana on political parties financing for campaigns, Mr Asiamah indicated that the revelations from the study are worrying but not “surprising”.
“We haven’t done anything fundamentally about the funding of political parties from the first time we did our research. Funding from membership base has always been the weak link and since nothing has changed over the years and political party expenditure is increasing over the years, this doesn’t come to us as a surprise. I think one of the challenges with these political parties is that you have a lot of people who identify themselves with these political parties, but when it comes to those who have registered as card bearing members you have few of them and even within this bracket, you have few people who are willing to contribute to the political parties”.
Gilfred Asiamah
The CDD research fellow expressed that another challenge encountered by political parties with regards to financing is that they are becoming more or less like “electoral machines” as they are more focused on “winning elections” than mobilizing their membership to believe in their programs and ideas. Due to the disposition of political parties, Mr Asiamah emphasized that card bearing membership contribution to the entire funding of political parties has not been much while expenditure is increasing.
“So, I think that it is expected that we have this kind of challenge at this time even though the amount and figures involved is shocking. It is shocking because if you look at the expenditure to be a member of parliament, when you combine the four-figure salary of an MP with allowances, I doubt it will reach that figure. So, how do they meet some of these financial obligations they bring upon themselves to even go to the next election?”
Gilfred Asiamah
Motive for CDD-Ghana study
Commenting on the reason for the study, Mr Asiamah explained that CDD-Ghana strongly believes that political parties play a very crucial role in the democracy of the country. He intimated that every democracy institution believes in free, competitive and fair elections and one needs political parties to mobilize people to sell its idea and “for people to buy into and that is when we form governments and democracies”.
“Because political parties are central to every democracy, we have also been interested in what political parties also do; how they get their funding over the years and how all these things link together to ensure that democracy is functioning very well. So, we have been following this because it’s linked to the sustainability of our democracy in this country”.
Gilfred Asiamah
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, reacting to a portion of the study which indicated that nine individuals who are allegedly engaged in illicit activities funded some political parties during the 2020 elections, noted that political party executives are usually unaware of the source of funds given to the party for its elections and related activities.
Mr Nketia explained that people offering the party and its candidate money do not disclose their interest or where their sources of funding are coming from.
“Most of the campaign funding happens through the candidates themselves, which is not declared in most cases to we the managers of the party. So, the accounts we prepare, audit and submit, can only take care of monies that have gone through my books as a chief executive of the political party”.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia
READ ALSO: Amend Political Parties Act To Include Prohibition Of Funding With Illicit Sources – CDD-Ghana
