Reforming campaign finance laws in Ghana: A 'political party bank' proposal

Abstract

All over the world, the issue of financing democratic institutions is a huge concern. In developing countries in Africa, several commentaries and suggestions have inundated the subject. Central to these suggestions is the idea of state funding of political parties. Given that there are many political parties in Ghana, any notion of State financing of political parties does not appeal to many. But as democracy has come to stay in Ghana, the phenomenon of elections and financing would continue to nag for attention. Two issues to this are; whether it is necessary to deregulate the use of money in elections because of democratic free speech or whether to regulate given democratic and equal political participation. The paper uses a qualitative, doctrinal, and comparative legal methodology to make a case for 'political party banks' as an option in political party financing.