Integrity Watch Liberia and NEC end symposium on Campaign Financing Regulation

By Lincoln G. Peters 

Integrity Watch Liberia with support from the National Elections Commission (NEC) has climaxed a two-day Campaign Financing Regulation Training for over thirty political parties across Liberia.

The initiative was funded by donors, especially UNDP, European Union, Swedish Sverige, and Irish Aid.

The workshop was facilitated by former Associate Justice Kabina Ja’neh, Toun-Ya Legal Consultancy and Arbitration Chambers. 

It is a flagship program of Integrity Watch Liberia and the National Elections Commission Strengthening Political Accountability Project.

The project is aimed at strengthening compliance and enforcement of the campaign finance framework in Liberia to promote level playing field and equal opportunities among contestants for a more accountable and transparent electoral process.

The program officially kicked off Thursday, July 27, 2023, and ended Friday, July 28 at the I-Campus in Monrovia, and brought together financial officers and the Secretary Generals of over thirty political parties.

Integrity Watch Liberia Executive Director Harold M. Aidoo, Sr., noted that campaign financing training for political parties is important to enable them to comply with elections law on the usage of finance during elections.

He said he is grateful to the NEC and other partners for providing the support.

Mr. Aidoo maintained that the training is a “foundation of the compliance process and hopes that the knowledge gained will help not just to comply, but to strengthen political parties’ capacity.”

The Integrity Watch forerunner lauded various parties that showed up for the exercise and extolled his partners for their support.

He expressed hope that it would help strengthen the medium of expenditure in keeping with the new elections law. 

For his part, NEC Director of Political Affairs, Ignatius B. Wesseh noted that limited enforcement of the law will be meaningless to political parties.

He said he wants Integrity Watch to ensure that they are enforced and considered by parties.

Wesseh however wants Integrity Watch Liberia to track and provide to the NEC information on compliance and noncompliance by political parties.

One of the participants at the training, Boima E. Kiawu, National Treasurer of the Vision of Liberia Transformation, noted that the initiative is cardinal to enable parties to provide appropriate reports on financing.

Kiawu said it had been difficult for those who head financial activities of political parties to give accurate reports because their standard bearers usually control finance and refuse to show expenditures that should be made.