Representative of the various political parties met recently in Accra to deliberate on the report of the two- day international `conference on multi-party democracy and political parties financing' held in Accra on May 22 and 23.

As at 11.30 a.m six out of the eight political parties expected, were present. They were People's Convention Party (PCP), National Convention Party (NCP), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDPR). The National Democratic Party (NDC) and Democratic People's Party (DPP) were absent.

Participants at the May 22 conference, attended by delegates from 10 West African Francophone, Anglophone countries, identified and suggested various approaches to political party funding in the participating countries.

They recommended, among other things, the establishment of a central fund to support political parties. Opening the meeting organised jointly by the Electoral Commission and the Friedric Ebert Foundation (FEF), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, chairman of the Electoral Commission said the meeting was to discuss the recommendations of the conference on how political parties in Ghana could get funding for their activities.

He asked the political paries to be "forward looking" in their discussions, emphasising that they should not only think about the immediate circumstances. "This is because we want to find in principle the best way to finance political parties in Ghana, not for just today or tomorrow, but in the future so that they can become viable and have the resources to perform important functions", he stressed.

Dr Peter Meyer, Resident Director of the FEF, said financing political parties was a crucial matter any country endeavouring to travel on the road on multi-party democracy should address.

He said in Germany, political parties received state funding based on the votes received in the last elections. Mr Mayer said each country, however "has to find its own structure-based on the political system in place, the historical back-ground, the ability and interest of the corporate world and the willingness of members of parties to contribute towards political parties".

Professor D. K. Agyemang, Dean of Graduate Studies of the University of Cape Coast, who chaired the meeting, hoped the discussions would be conducted in a frank manner that would yield fruitful results. The recommendations of the conference was later read out to the participants.