THE INTER Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), under the auspices of the Electoral Commission (EC) has finished its work on enhanced public support for political parties, and have proposed the framework by which the fund should be established and managed.

At a special IPAC meeting in the Eastern Region on Saturday, twelve political parties put finishing touches to the pro cess that began in 1995, and adopted a communiqué that outlined details for establishment of the fund and its management.

The parties, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC), Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Reform Patriotic Democrats (RPD), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), United Renaissance Party (URP), New Vision Party (NVP) and the Ghana National Party (GNP) affirmed the need and urgency for the establishment of a Political Parties Support Fund (PPSF).

Appending their signatures to the communiqué, the parties noted they were desirous of ensuring the sustenance and consolidation of political parties, as a way of further deepening Ghana's democratic process.

Their proposition comes on the back of the call to parliament by both former President John Agyekum Kuffuor and H.E John Evans Atta Mills earlier this year for state support to political parties, and the realization that funding to political parties in the fulfilment of their constitutional obligations would provide competition on a fairer and even playing field in elections.

This, they noted would also enhance their role in shaping the will of the people on a continuous basis with a determination to pursue the matter of enhanced public support for political parties to a logical conclusion.

The Chief Executive Officer of KAB Governance Consult, Mr. Kwesi Afriyie Badu, who read the communiqué on behalf of the EC and IPAC said the fund, when established would be managed by a special committee of the EC.

The members of the committee would comprise two members of the EC, the Accountant General and Attorney General, or their representatives respectively, a representative each from the ruling party, largest minority party and the other eligible parties, he noted.

The major source of funds that would be accessible to only political parties is a seed and annual budgetary contributions by the State, contributions from development partners, corporate bodies and individuals.

According to Mr. Badu, the parties have undertaken to apply the resources accruing to the Fund effectively, by ensuring that the parties obtain a minimum of either one percent (1%) of the total valid votes cast in the preceding presidential elections or 1% of the total valid votes cast in the parliamentary elections before accessing the fund.

However, in view of the fact that only three political parties, the NDC, NPP and CPP made the 1% mark, a transitional arrangement has been made by which all political parties that took part in the December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections would benefit from the PPSF until after the 2012 elections, when the 1% threshold would become applicable.

IPAC further recommended for the consideration of the Executive and Legislature that the Fund, when established, should be allocated to the eligible parties on the basis of equity principle (30%), institutional development (15%), research and public education (15%), election campaign cost (25%), reward for performance (8%), women participation (5%) and general fund management (2%).

Particularly, they resolved that gender sensitivity should reward political parties that field women candidates and support female candidates while there must be a regime of sanctions comprising a reduction, suspension and cancellation of grant institutionalized to deal with political parties that abuse the fund. Furthermore, they stated that 5% of the election campaign cost should be set aside for possible presidential run off, and election campaign funds should be accessible in not less than six months before general election.

However, "the fund will not be give additional support to political parties for bye-elections" and "political parties accessing the fund will be held to strict accounting and auditing standards."

With the work complete, they are urging President Mills to initiate the legislative process for establishment of the fund and appealed to Members of Parliament to attach the required importance to the matter and cooperate with the executive in a non-partisan manner to pass the relevant bill. They also appealed to the EC to provide the needed leadership in securing the legislation for establishment and operation of the Fund and in addition work out a plan to build up public support for the State and other contributions to the Fund.

The Chairman of the EC, Mr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said the IPAC meeting was very fruitful, which showed that tensions that characterized the 2008 elections have subsided.

According to him, ensuring enhanced public support for political parties has been an important agenda that the EC, IPAC and other stakeholders have been pursuing since 1995, and has now become critical, since both the former and current Presidents are in full support of it.

He said, their effort has been to consolidate the ideas of the various stakeholders and "make sure that we understand the ideas and get agreement." What is left is to pursue the matter with the authorities, he said, and expressed hope that work would be expedited to get legislation on the subject matter this year.