The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu (Joe Wise) has suggested to the government to consider funding political parties in Ghana to end the monetisation of politics.
According to him, this initiative will help the government to track monies pumped into elections in the country.
Osei-Owusu said the numerous calls to have legislation that will control and support individuals’ bid to run for office have proven futile leading to illicit financial flows through Ghana’s electoral process.
“Look at our constitution, the cost of running an election is borne by the individual. So, how I raised money to run my campaign, nobody asks me. Nobody finds out from me, how much it cost me to contest the last election. How did I raise the money? Nobody finds about that from me,” Osei-Owusu said on Asaase Radio’s The Big Bulletin on Monday (7 February).
“…If the state is so keen, why doesn’t the state fund it so that it can control the expenditure? Anytime that matter comes up, they say ‘shut up, that’s in our nature’. We want the best for everything but somebody must pay for it. Sometimes the somebody else is not as clean as we perceive them to be.
“…The ministry of parliamentary affairs has run so many workshops on the dangers of monetisation of our politics but frankly, do the people who control the system, do they care?” he asked.
GhanaFeed.com