Prohibition of Illicit funding: Amend Political Party Act-CDD

The Centre for Democratic Development, (CDD) has recommended the amendment of the Political Party Act to include the prohibition of funding with illicit sources.

Furthermore, the Centre suggests that donations to Political party campaigns must be tax-deductible to encourage transparency in such donations.

In a Press release containing the findings of its study on the topic: “Rising Cost of Politics in Ghana Attracting Illicit Funding from Organized Crime,” the CDD further recommends that the campaign period must be defined as a way of reducing the rising cost of politics and that the EC and political parties must adopt a formula to determine the rate of increment in filing fees.

Additionally, it noted that Political parties must reconsider the candidate selection process to mitigate the cost implication in primaries and require candidates to file returns as it in the case of the political parties.

Moreover, it has recommended an increase in public education to address demand-driven costs in the elections campaign.

The Centre for Democratic Development also made the following conclusions per its study;

Firstly, the cost of politics in Ghana is prohibitively high and notably increasing. The estimated costs of politics established from this study are much higher than previously reported estimations.

Also, there is an unsustainable expectation of politicians being cash cows to both their party leaders and the electorate.

Moreover it established that money from illicit, illegal, and criminal activity, conducted by both local criminal and SOC actors, has found roots in Ghanaian politics.