The Department For International Development (DFID) is working with the US- based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) to examine party political finance in Africa.
This document is NDI’s quarterly progress report to DFID for spring 2003. It outlines activities planned and undertaken, and comments on relevant developments in the field. The African Party Political Finance Initiative consists of two components. Firstly there is international comparative research on the cost of getting elected. NDI have now agreed with DFID a list of 28 countries to be included in the study, and drafted a survey instrument. The second component is support for local organisations promoting discussion and reform of party finance in four African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. Consultations have been held with local partners, who are now preparing proposals for activities in their countries. In the next quarter, NDI plans to begin research and analysis in six countries, and to participate in a number of conferences on electoral finance issues.
- Countries included in the comparative survey were selected on the basis of the quality of data available and the extent to which party finance is becoming a public policy issue.
- The survey instrument is being developed in consultation with academics from several countries as well as civic partners in Africa. It includes a desk review of electoral and party regulations, typical sources and destinations of campaign and party funding, and how funds are managed.
- Interviews with around 25 key officials, academics and members of civil society will assess possible causes and implications of high campaign costs, and ideas for reform.
- NDI attended a conference on political financing in Latin America, which called for greater transparency, accountability and probity in the use of political funds, and called on the international community to support research into campaign finance issues.
- NDI also reports contacts with other related specialists in the field, including the Governance Resource Centre (GRC) and a number of DFID country specialists.
DFID has asked NDI to begin the second component of the Initiative earlier than originally scheduled; NDI is assessing the feasibility of this. Recent developments in African party finance noted in the report include:
- Corruption in Nigerian politics, including large-scale vote-buying and ‘paid political advertising in the form of news articles’.
- An African Union conference brought together civil servants, academics and civil society groups to discuss elections, democracy and governance; electoral finance was the subject of a panel discussion.
- A national conference was held in Kenya to discuss constitutional issues, including public funding for political parties; the latter was the subject of a failed parliamentary bill proposed in 2001.
- NDI’s partner in Kenya, the Centre for Governance and Development, was central to the introduction of this bill and contributed to the political finance debate at the conference.
Please contact Gemima Neves (gneves@ndi.org) for information about this project.
