Cash donation to presidential candidates by financiers reach $2 million – CDD survey
Cash amounts donated by business financiers and people with special interests in support of the candidature of a presidential candidate range from GHS 40,000 to GHS 11.5 million ($2 million).
The finding, according to the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in a study conducted on campaign and politics financing in Ghana, is the biggest contribution to presidential candidates during election periods.
“The biggest contributions come from special interests, particularly businesspeople who support the party and candidates at several levels in return for contracts, contacts, positions, and protection of businesses from governmental interference or clampdown. Cash amounts donated by special interests and business financiers in support of the candidature of a president candidate ranged from GHC 40,000 to GHC 11.5 million ($2 million),” said CDD – Ghana.
CDD-Ghana asserts the cash contributions are made in return for contracts, positions, appointments, protection of businesses, protection from prosecution in the case of illegal activities, tax waivers and access to power.
A more troubling finding by CDD-Ghana is the involvement in Serious and Organized Crime (SOC) activities by the financiers.
Some of the financiers through the survey were found to be involved in illegal mining (galamsey) activities, illegal oil bunkering and alleged fraudulent business dealings.
“Nine (9) financiers were found to be involved in illicit and Serious and Organized Crime (SOC) related activities. The SOC activities identified include Illegal mining/galamsey (7 financiers); Illegal Oil Bunkering (One financier); and alleged fraudulent business (One financier),” it stated.
“Ten (10) of the financiers are engaged in the procurement of works (construction of roads and buildings) and three (3) of the major financiers are Chiefs in the Eastern region,” it added.
For those wanting to be Parliamentarians, the study uncovered that a total amount of $693,000 (GHS 4 million) was spent in the run-up to the primaries.
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“Interviews with party informants, past and current candidates and MPs revealed that aspirants/candidates have to nurture the constituency for a number of years, spending on voters in the constituency and financing the campaigns for the election of party executives and coordinators in the constituency nearly three years before they contest in the primaries, which we estimated at GHC 2 million. A further estimated GHC 2 million is spent during the run-up to the primaries, bringing the total estimated amount to GHC 4 million ($693,000) which is up from up from GHS 389,803 ($85,000) CDD-Ghana and WFD study in 2018,” CDD-Ghana noted.
Adding that, “For candidates running for office as MP, the study found that the bulk of their funding comes from their personal savings and loans. While the sources of financing an aspirant’s campaign remained unchanged, at least 8 in 10 of the former aspirants and current MPs told our researchers during the fieldwork and validation sessions they were increasingly falling into debt from the high cost of financing their campaign before, during the election, and when they win the election and are serving as MP or after they leave office.”
Key findings from study
- The more tangible sources of campaign financing were from major campaign financiers – some of whom are engaged in Serious and Organized Crime (SOC) activities.
- The majority of campaign financiers provided their funds with the expectation of receiving some form of reward such as procurement favours in the form of works, services, and construction contracts; appointments; protection of businesses; protection from prosecution in the case of illegal activities; tax waivers; and access to power.
- Specific sources of funds identified as money from illicit activities include illegal mining, illegal oil diversion, and kickbacks from procurement of goods, services, and works contracts and from proceeds of organised crime.
- The gaps in the legal and regulatory framework and oversight of campaign financing in Ghana has enabled the inflow of money from illicit sources into Ghanaian politics.
- The high cost of running for elections is exacerbating exclusionary politics and preventing the reforming of the status quo. This, in turn, is inhibiting real change actors to enter the political arena and drive influential changes for positive developmental outcomes.
Main Findings
- Analysis of 40 media reportage of contributions to the NDC and NPP spanning elections in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, showed that the source of campaign financing is dominated by high-profile political personalities at both national and local levels; accounting for a little more than half (52.5%) of all the sources of contribution observed in our analysis.
- The least commonly mentioned sources of contributions were organic grassroots membership fundraising (12.5%); corporations (2.5%); and foreign entities (2.5%).
- The type of contribution or support political parties were commonly reported to have received were non-monetary (48%) ranging from the provision of buildings, cars, motorcycles, phones, stationery, and bales of second-hand clothing.
- Majority of the contributors (23 out of 40 contributors) are from the upper echelons of the political elite (political party official, 20.5%; former government official, 18%; current government official, 15.4%; and parliamentarian, 2.6%).
According to CDD-Ghana, the cost of politics in Ghana is prohibitively high and notably increasing stating that the estimated costs of politics established from the study is much higher than previously reported estimations.
“There is an unsustainable expectation of politicians being cash cows to both their party leaders and the electorate,” it remarked.
“Money from illicit, illegal, and criminal activity, conducted by both local criminal and SOC actors, has found roots in Ghanaian politics,” it added.
CDD-Ghana has therefore made the following recommendations:
- The Political Parties Act must be amended to include prohibition of funding with illicit sources
- Donations must be tax deductible to encourage transparency in donation
- Campaign period must be defined as a way of reducing the rising cost of politics
- The EC and political parties must adopt a formula to determine the rate of increment in filling fees.
- Political parties must reconsider the candidate selection process to mitigate the cost implication in primaries
- Candidates must be required to file returns as it in the case of the political parties ▪ Increase public education to address demand-driven cost in elections campaign
