More people say no state funding of political parties

11/03/08
Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
A CROSS-SECTION of Ghanaians interviewed by the Daily Graphic yesterday unanimously condemned the proposed state funding of political parties.
Some of the 35 respondents randomly selected in Accra argued that it would be morally wrong for citizens to be made to pay taxes to fund the activities of political parties, at the expense of pressing national needs such as water, electricity, health and education.
Besides, they said, state funding of political parties would amount to pampering politicians and open the floodgates for more political parties to be formed, with the sole aim of benefiting from the fund.
In addition to a number of hawkers and business people, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Mr J.N.Y. Atopley, the Executive Director of Eanfoworld for Sustainable Development, an NGO, Alhaji Abdulai Alhasan, an executive union member of the Accra New Town Branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union of the GTUC, Mr Ellias Agbemadu, a trotro driver at the Tema Station, Emmanuel Asigbe, and a public servant who declined to give his name were some of the people who reacted to the proposals made for the state to fund political parties.
The proposal was made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), under the umbrella of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). The proposal is to be launched today.
Mr Atopley likened a political party to a marriage which required adequate financial preparations and asked politicians to be fully prepared to fund their own political activities.
He said politicians were seeking political power and wondered why the larger Ghanaian population should pay taxes to prop them up to acquire power.
“I do not see why the state should fund political parties. The fund should rather go into addressing challenging national issues,” he stressed.
Mr Alhasan argued that political parties were supposed to be self-sustaining and indicated that their respective supporters should be made to pay dues to support their activities.
According to him, if party functionaries paid dues, they could “have a say” in the running of the parties, including the selection of individuals to serve in government.
Mr Alhasan said state funding of political parties would create an avenue for politicians to cash in on the country’s meagre resources for their own benefit.
For his part, Mr Agbemadu said a ruling party would abuse any system to fund political parties, as it would allocate more funds to itself, at the expense of the minority parties.
Besides, he said, many politicians were self-centred and that they did not think of the welfare of the larger Ghanaian society if they attained political power.
Mr Asigbe said he had lost trust in politicians, as they had failed to fulfil the numerous promises they made during electioneering.
He described political party activity as business and urged politicians to invest in their own activities and take personal responsibility of the outcome, whether “profit or loss”.
The public servant who pleaded anonymity expressed disappointment at the attitude of politicians who were only interested in promoting their welfare.
“I do not really understand our politicians. How on earth should the poor Ghanaian be made to pay money to fund political activities?” he queried.