ACCESS TO INFORMATION TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP

The commitment under this thematic area seeks to actualize transparency on political party and campaign financing by enabling the implementation of the Political Parties Act (2018), which requires financial reporting and disclosures by political parties to the Registrar of Political Parties.

 The main challenges the commitment will address were highlighted as follows,

a) Limited transparency surrounding political party and campaign financing.

b) Underdeveloped enforcement mechanisms for disclosing political party financing, as provided for under the Political Parties Act, 2018, as the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) has not been operationalized.

c) Limited capacity and resources for the Office of the Registrar of Companies to fully implement the mandate of the ORPP in the interim.

d) Unfamiliarity with the financial reporting, disclosure process, and procedures on the part of political parties, necessitating orientation.

 The proposed solutions to address the challenges above are as follows.

a) operationalization of the office of registrar of political parties (orpp).

b) carry out situational analysis and subsequent reports on records of registered political parties, funding sources, and those accessing state funding.

c) conduct consultations and ensure the development of fundraising guidelines on political party financing

d) Facilitate the development of draft guidelines and templates for the submission of information on political party financing.

e) Ensure the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) requests a list of registered political parties in preparation for the orientation on fundraising and disclosure guidelines.

f) Implement orientation fundraising and disclosure guidelines on political party financing for registered political parties.