Paula Yels, Contributor

Money is to politics what oxygen is to the human body - one just cannot live without it. Recently, there have been several calls for the establishment of proper mechanisms to deal with the issue of political party/campaign financing. As a concerned citizen, I join my voice with all others as I believe it is critical that this issue be addressed in light of the clear and present danger that access to the democratic decision-making process can be bought.

How a country responds to a political finance scandal helps to determine the strength of its democracy and its supporting democratic institutions. The issue of political finance and how it is regulated, is certainly not new. in fact, several countries, whether traditional or emerging democracies, have at some time or other struggled with this issue. Their experience stands not only as testaments, but as guiding posts to the possible resolution of this issue.

Most of the discussions that I have heard in the public space on the issue, either do not present a clear and comprehensive picture or tend to fly above the heads of most ordinary Jamaicans who are without the benefits of a sophisticated education.

Research has shown that there are many ways to address the issue of political campaign/party financing, the more popular being:

Legislative measures - This is the introduction of a set of legislations to establish among others: (a) source of funding for political parties (b) determine the extent of such funding (c) determine the level of expenditure by placing a ceiling on campaign expenditure. In relation to source of funding, this may be either private and /or public. However, there is always a limitation on the extent of the contribution as well as restrictions on who may contribute. Contributions from certain individuals (example, convicted criminals), interest groups or institutions, including foreign governments, foreign corporations, and foreign trade unions, are usually banned.

Public disclosure requirements

A second method of controlling party/campaign financing, and this is usually tied to the above, is the introduction of public disclosure requirements. This requires political parties to disclose in a prescribed manner all contributions received, or in some jurisdictions, all contributions over a certain amount. In Canada for instance, that amount is over Ca$100.

The United States Agency for International Development some time ago conducted a study of political financing in 111 countries. The study revealed that most of the countries surveyed had some form of public financing of political parties.

Independent research has shown that the countries considered to have a workable system in terms of political finance laws, are those countries that have established proper enforcement mechanisms, that is, independent bodies, whether electoral or otherwise, with the powers to supervise, investigate and where necessary, institute legal proceedings where the existing legislation has been breached.

Interestingly, in Lithuania, a former Soviet Republic, the Central Election Commission in 2002 developed a database (the first of its kind in that country) where information on donors and other political finance information can be publicly accessed. Some journalists and civil society groups began an investigation based on information garnered from the database. This investigation unearthed a huge political scandal that resulted in the then president being removed from office by parliament. New elections were held and legislation passed to prevent future abuses.

The question then for us is: Can the introduction of legislation do it, or will we only be creating more laws that will be difficult to enforce because of a lack of other vital supporting mechanisms?