Stakeholders in Ghana’s Western Region gathered in Takoradi on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, to scrutinise a draft law that would impose binding spending limits, donation caps and independent oversight on political party financing for the first time in the country’s history, as the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) brought its nationwide consultation tour to the region’s capital.
The Takoradi forum is part of a series of 10 regional consultations CDD-Ghana is conducting across the country between February 23 and March 13, 2026, in partnership with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and with funding from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The series aims to build public understanding of the Draft Model Bill on Political Finance in Ghana and collect citizen feedback before the final version is submitted to the Attorney-General’s Department.
The urgency behind the initiative is grounded in research. CDD-Ghana’s studies show that the average cost of contesting a parliamentary seat in Ghana rose 59 percent between 2012 and 2016, reaching an average of GH¢389,803. By 2020, that figure had climbed to as much as GH¢4 million per candidate, with a significant share of those funds traced to opaque sources including networks linked to organised crime.
Joseph Oti Frimpong, Programmes Officer at CDD-Ghana, told the Takoradi forum that Ghana’s democracy, while admired across Africa, is being undermined from within. “One of the major problems is the monetisation of the political landscape and the absence of a comprehensive legal framework to regulate political party financing in Ghana,” he said. He added that input gathered from all 10 regional consultations will be consolidated before submission to the Attorney-General to support the development of a political finance law aligned with international best practices.
Key provisions in the draft bill include establishing an independent electoral financing and enforcement authority, introducing expenditure ceilings for political campaigns, and defining a clear campaign period for political activities. The bill also proposes caps on political donations and strengthened oversight of candidates’ campaign financing, areas where Ghana currently has no enforceable legal framework.
Victor Brobbey, Deputy Chairperson in charge of General Services at the NCCE, used the Takoradi forum to confront what he described as a normalisation of electoral corruption. “Silence, indifference and social acceptance have allowed these practices to persist, even when many Ghanaians privately condemn them,” he said. He warned that when politics becomes transactional, elected office risks being treated as a financial investment, corroding the culture of genuine public service. “Reforms of this magnitude cannot rest on institutions alone; an informed and engaged citizenry is its strongest foundation,” he added, urging citizens to reject inducements and demand issue-based governance beyond election periods.
The forum brought together political party representatives, civil society organisations, youth groups, regulatory bodies and members of the public, who contributed suggestions on the draft bill’s content, provisions and enforcement mechanisms.
The national consultation series continues ahead of its March 13 closing date, with consolidated findings expected to feed directly into the bill’s final drafting process.
