The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has proposed the creation of an independent political party finance audit committee with the mandate to verify the identities of individuals sponsoring political party activities in the country.According to the OSP, the proposed committee should operate independently from the Electoral Commission (EC) and consist of representatives from the OSP, the Judiciary, and the Auditor General's Office, with a judge serving as the head.The Director of Strategy, Research and Communication Division at the OSP, Mr Samuel Appiah Darko, made these remarks last Friday during a public forum on political finance organised by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in collaboration with Transparency International Ghana in Accra.It brought together key individuals and stakeholders to dialogue and share sustainable measures to ensure state funding for political parties.Mr Darko emphasised that there was a need to replace or review the Political Parties Act 2000(574) to ensure that the Committee hold them to a higher standard similar to that of Norway.The Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Bossman Asare, said the 1992 Constitution entreat that the internal structures of political parties must reflect democratic practices.He indicated that a major area where transparency and accountability were important in the scheme of political parties is the sources of funding for campaigns and the financing of political parties.The Executive Director, Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Mr William Nyarko, also stated that there is major gap in campaign finance regulations, stressing that the current law is centred on the Political Party Act."So it just regulates political parties.
We don't have a campaign electoral campaign financing regulation.
There's a difference between Political Finance, which is the financing of political parties, and electoral campaign financing, which is the raising and spending of money by candidates to influence a vote," Dr Nyarko explained. BY BERNARD BENGHAN
