By Kizito CUDJOE
The Executive Director-Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), William Nyarko, has called for a comprehensive review of the political party financing law to address emerging concerns, including increasing monetisation of elections.
Mr. Nyarko said the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574), passed nearly 25 years ago, is no longer fit for purpose. He therefore called for its amendment to reflect current realities, including introducing provisions to regulate not only political parties but also individual party candidates.
“The existing framework focuses primarily on political parties, but it ignores the growing influence and financial practices of candidates themselves,” he said.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a meeting in Accra, themed ‘Campaign for Political Finance Transparency’, he pointed to the rising monetisation of elections and role of unregulated financing in what he described as “acts of commission or omission” by political actors.
While politicians appear to bear these costs upfront, Mr. Nyarko argued that citizens ultimately pay the price through inflated public contracts, poor infrastructure delivery and other governance failures.
“Candidates are not regulated. A candidate can take money from anybody and they don’t have to disclose it. When they win the election, they will use state monies to pay back. Those gaps are huge,” he said.
He stressed that this dynamic undermines electoral integrity and contributes to state capture and endemic corruption.
“Monetisation of politics and exclusionary effects on women, youth and persons who are differently-abled leads to vote buying, abuse of state resources and incumbency advantage,” he added.
Touching on specific gaps in the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574), he said the law contains no ceilings or limits on contributions, no spending limits and no requirement for verification or disclosure of donor identities.
He further noted that while the law prohibits funding from non-citizens for political parties, it does not extend this restriction to individual candidates; nor does it explicitly ban the abuse of state resources or incumbency.
Mr. Nyarko pointed out that Ghana is a state party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and African Union Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption (AUCPCC), both ratified in 2007.
Quoting UNCAC’s Article 7.3, he said: “Each State Party shall also consider taking appropriate legislative and administrative measures, consistent with the objectives of this Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to enhance transparency in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and, where applicable, the funding of political parties”.
Given these obligations, he reiterated the urgency of reforming the current law – proposing that the Political Parties Act should require candidates to submit financial reports detailing all campaign contributions or donations; and a ceiling on how much individuals or organisations can contribute, to reduce the risk of state capture.
Furthermore, he called for full implementation of the constitutional requirement for political parties to publish their accounts and activation of a sanctions regime for non-compliance.
“Consider a mixed model of private and state funding,” he added, “and condition state support on promoting the inclusion of marginalised groups.”
The Campaign for Political Finance Transparency was jointly organised by Transparency International, Ghana (TI Ghana) and Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) with support from Transparency International Secretariat through the European Union Action Grant.
Also speaking at the event, Deputy Head of Mission-Norwegian Embassy, Mr. Kyrre Holm, noted that “Opaque political funding creates fertile ground for corruption, state capture, foreign interference and organised crime”.
He said the government of Norway continues to support global efforts at tackling this issue, referencing Norway’s sponsorship of the UNCAC Conference of States Parties (COSP).
“To date, the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption has adopted 81 resolutions, yet none have addressed transparency in political financing,” Mr. Holm stated.
He announced Norway’s decision to sponsor a new resolution aimed at enhancing transparency in the funding of political parties, candidates and electoral campaigns.
“Given your strong focus on transparency in political financing, we would like to partner with Ghana as a key supporter of the upcoming resolution,” he said.
Executive Director-TI Ghana, Mrs. Mary Awelana Addah, earlier in her welcome address also said across Africa and globally, opaque political financing is increasingly recognised as a fundamental threat to democratic governance, inclusive development and anti-corruption progress.
“In Ghana, this threat is not abstract. The 2023 CDD-Ghana study on the Cost of Politics revealed that aspiring Members of Parliament require over GH₵4million (US$350,000) to successfully campaign – a staggering figure that effectively excludes ordinary citizens, entrenches elite capture and undermines political competition.”
“The findings confirm what many have long suspected: money, not merit, increasingly determines access to power,” she added.
She called for campaign finance transparency in line with good governance practices and urged parliament to move with urgency to enact a comprehensive campaign finance law.
“The Electoral Commission must strengthen enforcement and make political party finances accessible to the public.”
