The monetisation of politics in Ghana has been a rising concern in recent times.

Civil society organisations in particular have been sounding the alarm about how the unchecked monetisation of Ghana’s political space could lead to the erosion of democracy in the country and transfer power into the hands of a select few.

Others have warned the phenomenon will breed money laundering and bribery and exacerbate vote buying and selling, among other corrupt practices.

According to a 2021 study conducted by CDD-Ghana in 2021, aspirant parliamentarians would need a minimum of GH¢4 million to run in an election.

“In the current estimate per this statement, running for Parliament was GH¢4 million, out of this amount two million is dedicated towards nurturing constituencies and the other two million is after the securing of the candidature position,” CDD-Ghana had revealed.

In the just-ended NPP parliamentary primaries, the issue has been brought to the fore-burner once again, with some politicians calling for reform to put a definite stop to the unchecked spending that happens during elections.

Joining the Joy Super Morning Show, the Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano North, Suleman Adam Sanid, revealed the issue goes beyond just the campaign period.

As per the legislator, after the campaign season, the MP, if successful, has to continue offering money and other goodies to delegates and the larger party base to nurture them to keep voting for him in the next election period.

Detailing his experience, he said; “2020 for the primaries fortunately I went unopposed so I didn’t have to contend with any issues. But even unopposed you still have to thank the delegates, that is how we put it.

"You still have to thank them; you can’t just say you’ve gone unopposed so therefore you have nothing to do with them. You still have to see them and thank them.  

"Without putting figures, that time if you look at it it’s something in the region of GH¢250,000 that you’d have to give to them.

“And that is even on the day of the conference but if you want to look at the problem itself, it starts from the campaign stage where you have to visit the delegates, have an engagement with them and anytime you’re meeting them you can’t just go to them and leave, you need to drop something. And dropping of something depends on the area and depends on the region.

“Some of the regions are - especially if you have a neighbouring constituency where a resourceful person is contesting and the person begins to raise the bar in terms of how much the person is giving per sitting, then if you’re close by and you’re doing something less, it puts you in a very dangerous situation and therefore to stay competitive, you may have to revise your notes and up your whatever you’re giving to them.

“So if you meet them two-three times, it means every time you meet them something must happen. And depending on those who are in the contest, if you have people coming in with a lot of money then it means that you have to also look for money to stay active else you’ll just fizzle out in no time. By the time you get to the D-day, you won’t be a strong force.

“And then on D-day that is where the main action is, that is where you need to do something to keep them with you. So it’s a very big problem, it’s not a joke.”

He added that after successfully winning an election, the elected MP now has to cater to the needs of his constituents.

Mr. Sanid said to ensure the voter base is not weakened or eroded by other aspiring MPs, the money has to continue flowing among other things.

“And beyond it, it’s not just getting the contest over and then you’re done with it, even how to maintain the delegates, how to keep them with you. So for the four years, you’re required to take care of them…people going to marry they come to you, virtually everything, so you need to take care of them. It’s almost like your hands are in their mouth and you know they determine your fate come four years so you try as much as possible to keep them to yourself.

“Along the line, some will be getting out of your hands because other aspirants will be finding ways of taking them away. But if you want to keep them then it means you need funds to sustain the delegates. And then beyond it, the larger constituency, attending funerals, making sure that you’re politically relevant else they’ll see you as an MP who is not active,” he said.

This he revealed can be very financially draining for the Member of Parliament and often draws MPs away from their core duty of legislating.

“If you look at my constituency for instance within Tepa township alone we have over a hundred churches and some of the big churches have their branches in other communities. So if you take something like the Catholic church, they have branches in about five or six communities so if you have harvest for even the hundred churches alone and you’re to even attend their harvest and give GH¢1000 do the calculation. Then those branches within the communities they’ll also be throwing invitations at you. So how do you do this?

“And when I talk about being relevant politically the moment you begin to shy away from these responsibilities then you’re endangering yourself, so whatever you do in parliament is their back case. That’s the sad aspect of what we’re doing.

“You see fantastic MPs, people ignore their contribution to the house, what they do to parliament on national discourse, whatever, they don’t even look at that. They look at how many projects you are bringing to the constituency, and how many projects you have been able to lobby to bring to the constituency, but to me, these are peripheral matters of the MP.

“The MP’s job is to contribute to lawmaking and we need to do research, we need to read around so that whatever comes around you can meaningfully contribute and then participate. But unfortunately, we’ve highlighted the project side in terms of development, the MP is doing this, the MP is doing this, and there they highlight it. The MP can pay people’s school fees, so the source of it nobody even cares,” he lamented.

He has joined calls for political parties to review the delegates system currently in use to effect changes that will halt the monetization of politics in the country.

“So I think we need to really open up, especially those of us in the arena, open up and talk about it and find solutions. So if I hear anybody saying the political parties cannot do anything, they can do something.

“There’s something that they can do. Just like Andy Appiah Kunbi was saying the parties must sit down, they must look at the delegates system that we’ve been running for years,” he advocated.