Brigitte Weidlich
28 November 2008
THE funding of political parties represented in Parliament should be legally defined by a proper law which would hold them accountable for how they spend the funds, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recommended.
"Parliamentarians are lawmakers and are the ones who enact laws providing for other institutions to account for public funds received.
They should be bound by the same laws they pass," the ACC said in a press statement yesterday.
"It is surprising that these political parties represented in Parliament receive public funds but there is no legal framework in place obliging them to account to either the Auditor General or any other established body as to how and for what the money is spent.
Other institutions that receive public funds are by law obliged to account for the use of the money," the ACC noted.
Parliament should look seriously into passing legislation providing for the funding of political parties represented in Parliament and to make sure that they account for the funds spent, it recommended.
The ACC came to this conclusion after probing alleged fraudulent spending of the Congress of Democrats' (CoD) party funding, which proved to be unfounded.
In July this year, a N$90 000 payment from a CoD bank account to a relative of CoD president Ben Ulenga raised the suspicions of fellow members, who requested the ACC to probe the matter.
"Our investigation confirms that the N$90 000 was a refund for money lent to CoD at the request of the party leadership to pay its lawyers for legal action already before court.
"With statements under oath and other documentary evidence submitted, the ACC is fully satisfied that the transaction does not constitute a corrupt practice as alleged in the letter of complaint," the ACC stated.
Political parties receive Government funding according to the number of seats they have in Parliament.
There are 72 seats for MPs with voting rights and the sum allocated is roughly divided by 72.
In the previous financial year, which ended in March 2008, Government allocated N$16,4 million to political parties and N$17,6 for this financial year.
This translates into about N$245 000 per seat per year.
Small parties like MAG and the Republican Party, which only have one seat each, thus received about N$245 000 each, while Swapo, with over 50 seats, received around N$10 million.
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