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Mauritius: Political donations
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L'Express (Port Louis)
26 November 2007
Posted to the web 26 November 2007
Saoud Baccus
Port Louis
The Supreme Court will soon hear a case of political donations by companies. At issue is a shareholder, who has launched a lawsuit against Fuel on the basis that donations made to political parties for the 2005 general election have reduced the amount of dividends that he and other shareholders were entitled to.
At the outset, it should be said that political parties rely heavily on companies to run their political campaign. While this practice is legal, it does raise an ethical issue. Why? Almost nobody will give money to political parties without expecting something in return. This is the most basic of corporate behaviour called self-interest. While a Fuel spokesman argues on semantics - donations in plural meant more than one party enjoyed his company's largesse, he refuses to say which party received the lion's share. The public has the right to know these details, for it explains how companies try to influence political outcomes and government policies potentially compatible with their own interests.
This is where the law should come in. The Mauritian people are entitled to know where campaign contributions come from and to what extent these donations are likely to pay handsome dividends down the line, for example, when governments will award lucrative contracts. The need for transparency between companies and the government should be the driving force for an ethics of influence. In other countries, which respect their electorate, there are rules that require donations to be made public.
In England, a country on which most of our institutions are copied, there is a Register of political donations, maintained by the Electoral Commission. Anyone can consult the register to find out who gave what to whom. Nonetheless, Western countries are not immune to this phenomenon of donation-for-something. Despite rigid laws on political contributions to stem the desire to influence policies and laws, there are cases showing that free money is too tempting to resist.
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Former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, accepted a secret donation for his Christian Democrat Union from a business lobbyist that ultimately resulted in his having to relinquish his party's honorary chairmanship. Canadian prime minister, Jean Chrétien, gave rewarding contracts to his Liberal friends in return for a sizeable contribution to his party's campaign fund. Just before he resigned, Labour's Tony Blair had to fight off accusations of party contribution against peerages.
As it stands right now, political donations are similar to legal bribes for services rendered or to be rendered. They should be entered just as lobbying and they often go hand in hand. I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.
The attorney general should look into regulating donations to political parties. If that happens, we'll see less lobbying and more openness.
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