PRESIDENT David Granger has reiterated his Government’s commitment to have Campaign Financing Legislation in place before the next General and Regional Elections. The President renewed this commitment on Friday, stating clearly that when requisite laws are put in place to govern campaign financing in the country, the governing coalition will comply.
In the absence of such legislation, President Granger confirmed that the coalition has received financial support from external sources, but declined to disclose the names of the donors.
“It is not dirty money,” he made clear, positing that some of the donors have requested that their identities do not be disclosed for obvious reasons.
“Certain people in political parties could be very vindictive and once they discover that corporations give monies to parties, they can bring economic sanctions to bear against those corporations,” he explained, adding that some corporations fear that they may be blacklisted or boycotted. President Granger maintained, however, that while donors have asked to remain anonymous, the finance provided was acquired through legitimate operations. “They have assured that it is clean money.”
After observing Guyana’s General and Regional Elections in May, 2016, the Carter Centre recommended that the APNU+AFC Administration consider the establishment of a formal process for the registration and regulation of political parties to ensure greater transparency and integrity.
The latter could also be bolstered by the introduction of campaign-financing legislation, in order to ensure transparency in the sources of funding to contesting political parties.
The Center said, “Guyana should consider establishing and enforcing realistic limits on campaign expenditures to help promote equity, and avoid inequalities in access to resources, which undermine the democratic process.
“…reforms such as requiring disclosure of sources, not just in the context of elections; establishing party finance regulations with clear, rigorous, and enforceable regulations for reporting; requiring electoral contestants to make reports on their campaign expenditures publicly available, with strong penalties for those who do not comply with regulations (should be considered).”