Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday called for concerted efforts to tackle illegal campaign finances ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Jega spoke in Abuja, through a national commissioner of INEC and Chairman, Political Party Monitoring Committee, M. K Hammanga, who delivered his keynote address at a roundtable on campaign finance ahead of 2015 general elections.
The roundtable was organised by the International Republican Institute in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development and the United States Agency for International Development.
Stakeholders at the event, including the IRI, CDD, representatives of some political parties, and a presenter at the event, Mr. Jide Ojo, who is also a Viewpoint columnist with The PUNCH, lamented the lack of level playing field created by poor regulation of campaign finances by INEC.
Jega, in his address, acknowledged that many political parties were violating among others, provisions of section 92(2)(a) and (b) by their lack of annual budget, internal audit reports and improper documentation of funds and income.
According to him, such violations include, “Non-adherence to the conventional record keeping of account by political parties; non-availability of accurate record on fixed assets of political parties and membership register; Lack of internal control mechanism such that funds are sometimes withdrawn from party without following the due process; Lack of annual budget, internal audit reports and improper documentation of their source if funds and income as required by section 93(2)(a) and (b) of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.”
He expressed hope that by collaborating with various stakeholders, “the capacity of political parties to meet their respective obligations for adequately recording and reporting party and campaign expenses” would be enhanced.
“Our joint efforts will no doubt promote the development of a level playing field in our electoral environment, which will lead to significant improvement in party finance and tracking expenditures as we prepare for the 2015 general elections,” the INEC boss added.
IRI country director, Robina Namusisi, blamed the ugly trend of illegal campaign financing on institutional weakness.
She said, “The result is a situation where there is really no ceiling on campaign spending: parties, candidates and aspirants embark on wanton and unchecked spending, the financially less or un-endowed are shortchanged, the system is subverted, and generally politics is beyond the reach of the poor.
“This state of affairs should not be allowed to continue.”
Ojo said INEC needed to enforce the law rather than rely on voluntary compliance of the law.
“INEC has no choice than to lead the battle. We have seen over the years that voluntary compliance is not going to work,” he said.
Also, CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, lamented that non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act relating to campaign financing, had created “severe inequality” among political parties candidates and had also restricted citizens’ political participation.
Secretary of the Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, Peter Ameh, lamented the current practice had not been fair to other political parties, apart from the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, which he accused of violating the various finance regulations with impunity. Punch
