Ghana’s political party law deficient, needs urgent amendment – GACC
Accra: Mrs. Beauty Emefa Nartey, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), says that Ghana’s political party laws do not satisfy modern standards for political party financing.
She argued that Ghana’s political party law, specifically the Political Party Act 2005, fails to provide a transparent method for identifying political party financiers.
Mrs Nartey was speaking at a media capacity-building workshop organised by the coalition for journalists in Accra.
She stated that existing literature from the Centre for Democratic Governance indicates a correlation between political party financing and serious organised crime.
Thus, the capacity-building workshop was critical for journalists to understand the links between political party finance and organised crime.
‘We believe it is important for journalists to understand the relationships between political party financiers and serious organised crime, including illegal mining (galamsey).
‘We see how illegal mining is polluting our wa
ters, and we have to question ourselves: who are the financiers of the illegal mining, what are they doing with the proceeds, and how are they connected to political parties? So, we want our journalists to understand all these things given the upcoming elections,’ she said.
Mrs Nartey noted that the current political party laws required some changes to reflect modern patterns in political party financing.
She claimed that the law’s requirement for political parties to present audited accounts to the Electoral Commission was insufficient because financiers were unwilling to provide funding to political parties.
They did, however, provide the funds directly to the candidates with the expectation of future financial gain or criminal intent.
As a result, she said, the law must be amended to require political candidates, including presidents and parliamentary candidates, present audited record of donations made to them, as well as a list of their financiers.
Journalists from both the public and private media
attended the capacity-building programme. State institutions in charge of investigating and prosecuting corruption and organised crime took turns educating journalists on organised crime and its various forms, as well as corruption-related offences during elections.
The institutions included the Economic and Organised Crime, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and the Media Foundation for West Africa.
Source: Ghana News Agency