Eight years after the Carter Center recommended the implementation of campaign financing laws in Guyana, Executive Member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Amna Ally says there is still need for more discussions on the way forward.
During a PNCR news conference last week, Ally was quick to point out how crucial donor financing is to a party’s success at the polls.
“In Guyana, there are no laws with regards to campaign financing. As I know it, all the parties existing in Guyana right now, they get their campaign finances from donors…[and] fundraisers. My party for example, we’ve been engaged in massive fundraising activities raising quite a lot of money for the elections…There is no law in Guyana that speaks to campaign financing, and that is how we get our finances,” she said.
Ally noted that discussions are also needed at the level of government to determine specifically the need for the implementation of campaign financing legislation to eliminate the possibility of political parties being used as conduits for money laundering.
“That will have to be discussed at the level of government, and once there is a need, or cause, I have no objections to it. We believe in the rules that govern anti-money laundering, etcetera, and so we will not be engaged as a party in money laundering,” she said.
The Carter Centre, in 2011, recommended the implementation of campaign financing laws and even prior to that, coalition member – the Alliance For Change (AFC) was pushing for the implementation of these laws.
In April of that year, the Bharrat Jagdeo-led regime used it majority in the National Assembly to send to the Special Select Committee, the AFC’s Motion calling for the government to pass laws and regulations to govern campaign financing. Almost five years into government, and the AFC is yet to resuscitate those calls.
With the advent of oil coinciding with the PPP/C defeat in the May 2015 polls, Bharrat Jagdeo – now Leader of the Opposition – issued a call for a pact to be signed by political parties to not accept campaign funding from oil companies. That call has now been intensified as Guyana gears up to head to the polls on March 2, 2020.
