Political Parties Need Vat Funding

Professor Kofi Kumado, Director of Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) on Monday proposed that two per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT) should be set aside to support the activities of political parties.

“I am not proposing an increment in the existing VAT rate, but at the current rate we could set aside two per cent to fund political parties,” he said.

Prof. Kumado made the proposal at a day's workshop on the proposed Political Parties Bill, 2007 and the proposed Public Funding of Political Parties Bill, 2007, organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

The workshop was to give members of the Parliamentary Select Committees on Finance and of Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and leaders of the four political parties with representation in Parliament the opportunity to review and make input into the two bills before they are finalized.

The proposed Political Parties Bill was a result of the review of the existing one. The review was done by the former Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey while the proposed State Funding for Political Parties Bill was drafted by Professor Kofi Kumado, under the auspices of the IEA.

Prof. Kumado noted that there was a legal justification for state funding of political parties.

He said the law required political parties to file annual reports including financial statements to the Electoral Commission (EC) on their activities, adding that the parties are also required to have offices in all regions and in two-thirds of districts.