Civil society organisations (CSOs) are pushing for comprehensive legislation to regulate political campaign financing and criminalise vote buying and selling in intra-party elections, warning that the rising cost of politics is fuelling corruption and shutting out competent Ghanaians from public office.
William Nyarko of the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), a consultant on CSOs’ parliamentary engagement on Collective Anti-Corruption Advocacy, an initiative of Transparency International Ghana, said research conducted by the organisations had established that the cost of contesting political office in Ghana was excessively high and continued to rise.
He said the situation had created a system where political candidates increasingly depended on wealthy individuals and groups to finance their campaigns, with such financiers often expecting favours in return when their preferred candidates won.
According to him, the financial obligations accumulated during campaigns could leave elected officials under pressure to repay individuals who supported them financially, creating fertile ground for corruption, including inflated government contracts.
“When a candidate wins, the candidate typically gets into office already in debt. So, the contracts that you see, some of which you know are inflated, are to pay back the financiers. They don’t give you the money for nothing,” he said.
Mr Nyarko said Ghana needed stronger campaign finance regulations requiring candidates to publicly disclose the identities of their financiers and the amounts they received.
He argued that transparency in political financing would enable citizens and anti-corruption institutions to track relationships between campaign financiers and public officials, particularly where government contracts were subsequently awarded.
“We need to know who is giving the money. We can use that information to track several things, including contracts,” he said.
He also advocated a ceiling on the amount an individual could contribute to a political candidate, saying such a measure would prevent candidates from becoming financially dependent on a handful of wealthy financiers.
Mr Nyarko said other democracies had successfully used contribution limits and disclosure requirements to promote greater transparency in political financing.
He proposed the introduction of an electronic campaign finance management system to ensure that political contributions and expenditures were properly recorded and accessible to the public.
The CSO consultant further called for an amendment to existing laws to specifically criminalise vote buying and vote selling during intra-party elections.
He explained that the current legal framework largely focuses on public elections and referenda, creating a gap that allows financial inducements to take place during internal party contests without adequate legal consequences.
“There is a demand side and a supply side of corruption, where people are taking or demanding money and items of value from candidates. You have to have a prohibition in the proposed law that will criminalise vote buying and vote selling in intra-party elections,” Mr Nyarko said.
He noted that delegates in some intra-party elections openly receive money and other items of value from candidates, with some even using such payments to influence their voting decisions.
Mr Nyarko said the situation could undermine the quality of political leadership because candidates with greater financial resources were more likely to succeed, regardless of their competence or commitment to public service.
He said the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) and the government’s position were broadly aligned on the need for legislative reforms to address some of these challenges.
The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Alexander Akwesi Acquah, also backed calls for explicit legislation to tackle financial inducements in intra-party elections.
He said the absence of a specific law criminalising the giving and receiving of money during internal party elections made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to act against such practices.
“Currently, we don’t have any laws that criminalise the giving of money within intra-party elections. And so, a lot of people could give money, pay money, and get elected, and nothing can be done,” Mr Acquah said.
He noted that although individuals sometimes petition the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate alleged financial inducements, the fact that such transactions occur within intra-party elections makes enforcement more difficult.
Mr Acquah also expressed doubts that simply expanding the delegate system would end the monetisation of politics.
He explained that politicians paid delegates because the delegates had considerable influence over their political future, including determining who would secure parliamentary or presidential nominations.
“The only reason why politicians pay money to delegates is because the delegates have the power to decide their fate, as in whether they continue their careers as MPs or presidents. That’s why they pay money,” he said.
He warned that expanding the number of delegates without addressing the underlying culture of financial inducement could simply spread the problem.
“If you are going to give the power to so many people, and the people know that the delegates were taking money in the past, they will definitely start demanding money as well,” he said.
Mr Acquah argued that the country would continue to struggle to attract the most competent people into politics if financial resources remained a major determinant of electoral success.
“We don’t get the best people in politics, in Parliament. We don’t get the best people elected because they didn’t have money to pay,” he said.
Mr Acquah further linked the high cost of political campaigns to Ghana’s difficulty in fighting illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
He argued that some politicians could be reluctant to take strong positions against illegal mining because campaign financing could be linked to proceeds from the sector, while a strong anti-galamsey stance could also affect their support among young people in mining communities.
He said the financial pressures associated with political campaigns could therefore create difficult choices for politicians seeking to win elections and retain their seats.
Stakeholders at the event insist that Ghana must move beyond political promises and introduce enforceable measures that would make political financing more transparent, reduce the influence of money in elections and ensure that public office is accessible to people based on competence rather than their financial capacity.
