The Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) has advised political parties against the monetisation of their internal elections, stressing that it undermined the participation of women and young aspirants. 

It also indicated that this practice could prevent the parties and the country from benefitting from individuals who had the best policies and ideas for development.

The organisation made this call when it launched the findings of its research report titled:' The Price to Participate: How Money in Politics Undermines Women and Youth Political Participation in Ghana.'

The launch which took place yesterday in Accra, also marked the beginning of GenCED’s project on promoting inclusive political participation through campaign financing reforms in the country.

Situation

The Executive Director of the Gender Center for Empowering Development, Ms Esther Tawiah, said that the heavily monetised nature of election campaigns in the country had tipped political competition in favour of wealthy, male candidates.

“We realised that by the time the internal political party primaries were over, we couldn’t get the number of women that we needed, not because they were not competent, but because they didn’t have enough resources,” she said.

Ms Tawiah added that the situation worsened during general election, making it more difficult for women to compete in areas such as campaign materials, constituency engagement and informal inducements.

She warned that the current system risked turning democracy into a contest for the highest bidder rather than a process based on integrity and ideas.

“Democracy is not for the highest bidder, otherwise we will get people with money, not people with character, leading us,” she said.

The Executive Director also explained that the organisation had reached a point where it could no longer encourage women to contest elections without addressing the structural barriers they faced.

This, she said, had led to the launching of the project and the findings of the report.

Launch

For her part, Sabia Kpekata launched the report on behalf of the Director of the Department of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Faustina Acheampong.

She said the findings would support the implementation of the Affirmative Action Act and strengthen institutional reforms aimed at inclusion.

“It is our hope that this report, together with the recently passed Affirmative Action Act, will serve as a springboard for reforms in Ghana where we will see more women and youth participating in politics,” she said.

Reforms

For his part, the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante, argued that Ghana needed structural reforms rather than appeals and civic education alone.

He called for stricter regulation of internal party democracy, limits on campaign expenditure and greater transparency in political financing.

Dr Asante also supported proposals for a Democracy Fund to reduce reliance on private money and open political space to women and young people.

“This is our investment into the democracy that will determine our policies and governance,” he said, adding that inclusion should form the core of Ghana’s democratic DNA.