Political Financing in Developing Countries: A Case From Ghana by Joseph Luna

Author:Joseph Luna [Luna, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: African, Developing & Emerging Countries, Social Science, Political Science, World
ISBN: 9781000754421
Google: gnm6DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 52118290
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Enforcement

While politicians must finance campaigns and bureaucrats must finance retirements, these needs alone are not sufficient to maintain the system. A set of politicians could coordinate to reform political finance or a large-enough set of bureaucrats could expose these actions. I argue that political parties, namely their executives, are central to enforcing the stability of this political-finance arrangement. Party chairs are powerful interlocutors in a candidate’s political fortunes, and these chairs often vet prospective candidates before primary elections.

Party chairs mobilize the activists and voters that a candidate needs to win. At the village level, these activists—popularly known as “foot soldiers”—turn out votes for the party. Chairs oversee these foot soldiers and maintain good personal relations with them. In exchange for their support, foot soldiers expect material benefits from their party chairs. In interviews, most party chairs emphasized their personal relationships with the foot soldiers: attending family funerals, supporting children’s events, paying medical bills, etc.

You see, it was the party that got you into power, whether you are the President or an MP. In the Party, we have what are called ‘foot soldiers’. They go into the very rural, remote areas, and they canvas for votes. They go places where President and MPs cannot go. That is why they are important, and that is why Accra listens to them.

DCE, District F That is very, very true. With the subletting (subcontracting), some of the party activists, we call them ‘foot soldiers’, win, but they have no certificates or skills. What happens when contract is given to them? They sublet it … party activists get this money and share amongst themselves.

Contractor, District D

To win the favor of politicians and party chairs, some contractors join the ranks of foot soldiers (Ninsin 2006; Bob-Milliar 2012). These foot soldiers canvas rural areas to raise money and turn out votes, often through their kinship and ethnic networks, particularly in areas where the party may be electorally weak. In exchange for their services, foot soldiers demand “selective incentives” (Whiteley & Seyd 2002) in the form of personal support and project contracts. The most lucrative selective incentives are bestowed upon foot soldiers who have devoted significant time and money to improving the party’s standing in a given area, and foot soldiers compete against each other for such incentives (Bob-Milliar 2012). Foot soldiers face significant risk, though: a party can still lose the national elections, which would hamper the party’s ability to distribute selective incentives, thus endangering the foot soldiers’ survival.

Chairs maintain the loyalty of foot soldiers through their connections and control over contracts and kickbacks—similar to the functioning of political machines in American political history (Riordon 1905). While contracts are nominally controlled by district governments, occasionally, larger contracts are distributed to regions from Accra. At each level, party chairs distribute contracts to loyal contractors as well as themselves. How are regional chairs able to influence the distribution of these contracts? Essentially, the tacit approval for this arrangement stems from the top: regional chairs influence presidential elections through their relationship with the foot soldiers, many of whom are voting delegates at presidential nominating conventions.

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