The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has urged the introduction of tighter controls on political campaigns in Ghana, arguing that excessive spending and drawn-out campaign seasons are undermining the democratic process.

Speaking at the maiden National Dialogue organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Accra, Madam Addah proposed that political campaigns should be capped at six months.

She further emphasised the need for transparency in campaign financing, with full disclosure of sources of funds and expenditure levels.

According to her, the current political framework does not adequately address the challenges of campaign financing and duration.

“If we can regularise the space of campaigning, particularly with our political actors, then it helps us ground our politics in law. The current political parties’ framework does not exhaustively deal with these issues, so we believe we need a stronger regime,” she noted.

Madam Addah disclosed that civil society groups have already initiated consultations and commissioned the drafting of a bill to regulate campaign spending and duration.

She explained that a shorter campaign period would significantly reduce the vast resources currently required by political actors to sustain campaigns over several years.