The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has advocated for more stringent regulations regarding political campaigns in Ghana, emphasizing the necessity to curtail excessive expenditures and lengthy campaign durations.
She proposed that the duration of campaign seasons should be limited to six months and underscored the significance of transparency in campaign financing, which includes the disclosure of funding sources and the amounts spent.
While addressing the inaugural National Dialogue organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Accra, Madam Addah remarked that the existing political framework is insufficient in tackling these issues.
“If we can regularize the campaigning environment, especially among our political actors, it will help anchor our politics in legal standards. The current framework for political parties does not adequately address these concerns, thus we believe a more robust regime is necessary,” she stated.
“Civil society organizations have already engaged in discussions on this matter and have even sought assistance to draft a bill. However, our primary objective is to establish a regime that shortens the campaign period. If this is accomplished, political actors will not require the extensive resources needed to pursue an agenda over a span of more than two years,” she further explained.
Madam Addah also disclosed that a draft bill is currently under review, which aims to create a legal framework to regulate both campaign financing and its duration.
