Funding Political Parties in Ghana: Challenges and Prospects

The study examined the desirability of public funding of political parties in Ghana. The focus was on arguments and counter arguments about public funding of parties in Ghana. The study used various policy tools to ascertain what the best practice should be in terms of public funding of political parties. The survey arrived at evidence which suggest that political parties should be given public funding in order to ensure a level playing field for all the parties that register to contest elections. The argument supporting this view is that less resourced parties often blame their abysmal performance in elections on the funding urge that governing parties have over them and this is likely to plunge the country into a political turmoil one day if public funding is not provided for all parties. However, the argument that basic infrastructure need to be provided for societal good and the fact that constitutional bodies are under funded were some of the arguments raised against public funding of parties. The findings of the study indicated that a diverse/multi-support fund for funding parties with the VAT as the main policy proposal for revenue generation while the Electoral Commission of Ghana manages the Fund. To this end, there must be rules on funding and these rules should serve to prevent conflict of interest and the exercise of improper influence, to preserve the integrity of democratic political structure and process.