Former CHRAJ Commissioner, Justice Emile Short has lambasted politicians who drain the public purse after securing huge loans to fund their election campaign.

According to him, financial hardships and the increasing rate of corruption can be attributed to the usage of state resources by parties in power to fund these campaigns.

“Political campaign financing is the major source of corruption in the country. It is an open secret that in Ghana, candidates spend much sums of money to get elected and afterwards, they will do anything to recover the expenses by ruining the public purse.”

Speaking at the launch of a report on the Right to Information journey in Ghana, Justice Short established that public appointments are invariably made to benefit party supporters and loyalists who funded campaigns thereby undermining meritocracy as well as weakening state institutions.

“…they have been sponsored by individuals or organizations, the later extent to get a return for the expenses is to award contracts, invariably inflated contracts or appointments to positions. Sometimes these appointments are not made on the basis of merits.” He indicated.



Report on RTI journey in Ghana launched

The launch of a report on the Right to Information journey brought together representatives from the Coalition based in Accra including both the former and current steering committee members of the Coalition, the Media Coalition and other organizations that supported the advocacy for the passage of the RTI law

Stakeholders also highlighted some implementation challenges encountered during the passage of the bill and the way forward.

RTI Law

The RTI Law was assented to by the President of Ghana in May this year. The law seeks to give effect to Article 21 (1) (f) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana which states that “All persons shall have the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary for a democratic society.”