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EC, GACC join forces to fight electoral corruption
Accra, May 13, Ghanadot/GNA
– The Electoral Commission (EC) and the Ghana Anti-Corruption
Coalition (GACC) on Wednesday developed a mutual platform to
promote political transparency and accountability as a means for
fighting electoral corruption in Ghanaian politics.
The two bodies also called on the government to pass the Right
to Information (RTI) Bill, which is considered as a vital
instrument for fighting corruption.
Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman said the Commission, in its
quest to eliminate electoral corruption is in the process of
developing a new format for submitting audited accounts of
political parties.
The EC Chairman stated during discussions with a team of GACC
members led by its Chairman, Reverend Dr Fred Deegbe, who is
also the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana,
Mrs Florence Denis, Executive Secretary of GACC and Mr Bright
Kwame Blewu, General Secretary of Ghana Journalists Association
(GJA).
He explained that it was a constitutional and statutory
obligation for political parties to inform EC about their
sources of funding, including contributions or donations in cash
or kind and property but most often what was presented looked
“strange”.
He said all registered political parties in country had a
statutory obligation to submit their audited accounts to the
Commission for verification by the end of June every year.
The law says: "A political party shall, within six months from
December 31st of each year, file with the Commission a return
indicating the state of its accounts; the source of its funds
and membership dues paid or risk cancellation of its
registration.
"Without prejudice to any other penalty prescribed by the Act or
any other enactment, where a political party refuses or neglects
to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is
false in any material, the Commission may cancel its
registration."
The EC chairman explained that, "Even though, the Commission was
empowered by law to withdraw the certificate of any party that
failed to comply with the law, the EC in the past had resorted
to dialogue, sensitising and educating the parties to ensure
compliance".
Dr Afari-Gyan therefore commended the initiative of the GACC to
support the EC in fighting electoral corruption, which he
indicated involved any action or inaction that sought to
influence the election in favour of a party or candidate.
“A Media practitioner who engages in false reportage or incite
the electorate against a political party or individual
contesting election is also involved in electoral corruption,”
the EC Chairman stated.
The EC Chairman noted that even though the law forbid foreigners
from making financial contributions to any political party,
“it’s an open secret that they do, we therefore need
investigative journalists and anti-corruption agencies to expose
these corrupt practices”.
He said; “any person or company that contravenes the
constitutional provision on the funding of political parties
would forfeit such amount to the State.
“A non-citizen found guilty of contravention of the provision
shall be deemed to be a prohibited immigrant and liable to
deportation under the Aliens Act”.
Mr David Adeezen Kanga, Deputy Chairman in-Charge of Finance and
Administration called for a review of the law on public
disclosure to ensure that the giver of gift who failed to
disclose and the receiver who failed to disclose were culpable.
The EC Deputy Chairman also suggested the Enhanced Public
Support Regime with strict condition for assessing funds to
inject financial discipline into operations of the political
parties.
He said for parties to assess the fund, it must obtain at least
one percent of votes cast in the last general elections, must
give full disclosure of income and expenditure report and adhere
to stringent accountability process.
Rev. Deegbe said GACC considered EC as a key Governance
Institution for fighting electoral corruption and tasked the
Commission to harmonize the accounting procedure for submitting
audited accounts by political parties.
Other speakers included, Mr Kwadwo Safo-Kantanka, Deputy
Chairman in-Charge of Operations, Mr Ebenezer Aggrey Fynn and
other members of the Commission.
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