Failure to address campaign finance reform will hurt Guyana

Feb 05, 2018 ExxonMobil, News

---

 

– with oil money on the way, Govt. must act now, says Dr. Hinds

If the coalition administration is serious about ridding the election process of dirty money and other suspect forms of fiscal support, then it must act with some level of urgency when it comes to reforms for campaign financing.
This viewpoint was recently posited by Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. David Hinds.
In his recent writings, Dr. Hinds noted that over the next two years, Guyana is expected to hold two elections—the local government elections later this year and the general elections in 2020. Despite promises of campaign finance reform, he said that the government is yet to tackle this troublesome area of the political process.
While he is not sure whether the coalition government is going to push ahead with campaign finance reform legislation, Dr. Hinds said that there has been little if any sense of urgency in this direction. Even when the government indicates that it is willing to address its promise to beef up anti-corruption legislation, the political commentator asserted that they don’t say much about campaign finance reform.
“Perhaps the last time the president frontally addressed the issue was more than a year ago, when he promised legislation before the next general election. Since then, we have not seen any movement. So, it’s fair to conclude that there is no urgency. This is worrying– it makes the government look bad. These campaign promises which are in the manifesto represent the ingredients needed for an articulation of the hitherto elusive government’s vision.”
The political activist believes that the sloth partly has to do with the contraction of decision-making within the coalition. In this regard, Dr. Hinds pointed out that everything is decided at Cabinet. He noted however that the Cabinet is made up of ministers who are obviously primarily concerned with management of their individual ministries. Hence, they are less interested and in many regards, less schooled in overall government policy direction, Hinds stated. With this in mind, Dr. Hinds said that the matter of campaign finance, which does not fall under the purview of any subject ministry, except maybe the Legal Affairs Ministry, does not get the treatment it deserves.
“The sloth also has to do with the absence of a cohesive and intentional legislative agenda. Governments tend to pay little attention to the legislative branch, except when they want to use their majority to hurry something through the legislature.”
“And the parties in the coalition have not been doing their work as far as pressuring the coalition to advance an aggressive legislative agenda that speaks to the overall direction in which the coalition wants to take the country. You never hear from the People’s National Congress, the Alliance For Change, the WPA and the others about their legislative priorities. These parties seem satisfied that they are ‘in government’ and are not prepared to lift their voices beyond support for the government when it finds itself in trouble.”

“So, issues such as campaign finance reform for which they vigorously argued when in opposition, get pushed to the sidelines. I therefore repeat my call for the coalition to set up a committee made up of representatives of member parties to do a “mid-term audit” of campaign promises. The objective is to determine what promises have been addressed and others that need to be urgently addressed. Such work cannot be left to the Cabinet.”
A third reason Dr. Hinds posited for the sloth is the inability of the government and opposition to agree on anything. The political activist said that certainly, something as central and crucial as campaign finance reform should be done in a bi-partisan manner. He noted however that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has shown little interest in cooperating with the government, even when the latter has reached out to them.
The WPA Executive Member said that the issue of campaign finance is urgent, especially since oil money is coming. He said that businesses are always prepared to buy political access and decision-makers are always vulnerable. In this regard, he commented that experience in Guyana and other countries have taught many that they cannot depend on the integrity of politicians and parties. He said that that checks and balances are therefore necessary to safeguard against the potential for indiscretion.
Dr. Hinds also stressed that if this government is serious about turning a new page as far as cleaning up the cancer of corruption is concerned, it should act swiftly, even if it has to do so on its own and even if it has to disavow “bad eggs” in its own ranks.
“Failure to do so would hurt Guyana. Campaign finance legislation should expressly regulate financing to parties for elections. Legislation should aim to make elections a relatively low-cost activity and to take dirty money and other suspect sources of financing out of the system.”
Dr. Hinds stated that parties should be mandated to disclose the sources of campaign funds and there should be stiff penalties if this is not adhered to. He said, too, that there should be a cap on such contributions, especially from corporate and commercial sources and rich individuals.
“We are a small country. Our election campaigns should not cost as much as parties want to make us believe,” the WPA Executive Member concluded.

---

---