Auctioning Public Offices

• In Event: Political Financing, Election Campaign Spending & Democratic Stability in Africa

Abstract

The political parties in Ghana have moderately democratized their internal affairs with respect to recruitment and decision-making processes, but how parties mobilize funds and incur election costs are kept in the ‘black boxes’ of the main parties. This paper uses audited party accounts covering the period between 2000 and 2017 and interviews with party members to examine the funding of election campaigns in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. It shows that party politics have been monetized within and across the main parties. Public offices, state contracts and procurement activities are auctioned to the highest bidders during the pre-election period, raising questions about the legality of party fundraising activities. At the grassroots, the ‘small boys’ businessmen and influential people sponsor the campaign activities; while corporate executives and multinationals fund national level campaigns. The paper concludes that the opulence exhibited during election campaigns it because of the lack of regulation of campaign finance.

Author

• George Meyiri Bob-Milliar, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology