04 Sep 2017

The democratic process needs to be financed in order for the playing field between political parties to be leveled, and for the message delivered by different candidates to equitably reach the electorate.

The sentiments were expressed by members of a panel discussion on political funding organised by the Botswana Council of Non Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) recently in Gaborone.

University of Botswana lecturer, Professor Mpho Molomo said democracy had proved to be an expensive undertaking, and that individual candidates and political parties struggled to reach out to voters owing to lack of funding.

He said state funding of political parties, which transpired in some democracies including neighbouring South Africa, should be implemented in Botswana as well, as it would go a long way in assisting some candidates reach out to voters.

Prof Molomo said voters would make more informed decisions on the basis of messages from different candidates who have been empowered to administer their campaigns better.

Adding his worth, governing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) representative, Dr Batlang Serema said his party supported party political funding in principle, but had taken time to implement such a resolution, since they believed public funds hade to be disbursed responsibly.

“We believe in public funding of the political process. But let us put our house in order first. Our opposition parties have proved to be incompetent in handling their own affairs.

We understand some of their central committees have not met the whole year; at a recent congress they unleashed dogs at each other, how are they going to account for public funds?” Dr Serema said.

He said they believed there should be comprehensive funding of both the administrative functions of parties and electoral campaigns, but these would not be feasible in the current climate.

“Let us also acknowledge the importance of private funding. Public funding will never substitute private funding, which gives our members the opportunity to contribute to their parties, and the candidates the responsibility of raising funds.

As the BDP we receive subscriptions from our members and donations from well wishers which assists us greatly,” Dr Serema said.
Representing the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Botswana Congress Party (BCP) president Mr Dumelang Saleshando said if left to their own device, private donors have the ability to compromise the political process.

While acknowledging that some private funders of political parties could have the altruistic motive of sponsoring a national vision they shared, he said there were many instances where sponsors sought undue favours from politicians.

“State funding of political parties would lessen the chance of politicians being induced to serve the interest of their funders at the expense of their voters. It may not eliminate the threat altogether, but there would be greater transparency.

Once the modalities of funding are established, then checks and balances would be put in place to ensure accountability. As the UDC, we would be prepared to account; at the BCP we already have audited reports that we present to our members,” Mr Saleshando said. Ends