The growing influence of money in African politics poses a serious threat to electoral integrity and could undermine democratic participation, Chairman of the National Peace Council, Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, has warned.
He said unchecked campaign financing could create an uneven political playing field, encourage vote-buying and patronage, and weaken accountability in governance.
Bishop Fianu made the remarks in Accra when he delivered the keynote address at the opening of the Third Electoral Integrity Summit organised by the African Election Observers Network (AfEONet), in partnership with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the West Africa Election Observers Network (WAEON).
The two-day summit, held on the theme “Money, Technology and Civic Rights: Defending Electoral Integrity in Africa,” brought together election observers, civil society organisations and democracy experts to examine emerging threats to credible elections across the continent.
Bishop Fianu said the increasing commercialisation of politics required stronger measures to regulate campaign financing and improve transparency around the sources and use of political funds.
“Democracy should never become an ocean where leadership is purchased by the highest bidder,” he said.
He cautioned that when financial resources became the main determinant of electoral success, competence, integrity and commitment to public service could be pushed into the background.
Integrity goes beyond election day
The Chairman said electoral integrity should not be viewed solely through the conduct of voting on election day.
He said it covered the entire electoral cycle, including voter registration, campaign financing, civic education, media engagement, vote counting and collation, dispute resolution and acceptance of credible results.
He noted that although African countries had recorded significant democratic progress over the past three decades, electoral violence, political intolerance, misinformation, disinformation, abuse of incumbency and declining public confidence continued to pose challenges.
Bishop Fianu therefore called for closer cooperation among electoral commissions, political parties, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies, traditional and religious authorities, election observers, technology companies and citizens.
AI and disinformation threat
The Chairman also raised concerns about the growing use of technology to manipulate electoral information.
While acknowledging that digital tools had improved civic education, voter awareness and election monitoring, he said misinformation, disinformation, cyber interference, AI-generated content and hate speech could damage public confidence and deepen political divisions.
He urged governments to protect legitimate civic expression while encouraging technology companies, media organisations and civil society groups to promote responsible digital citizenship.
CDD warns against complacency
Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, said Ghana’s record of democratic consolidation and peaceful political transitions should not result in complacency.
He said every election brought new challenges that required sustained attention, particularly the growing cost of political competition and limited transparency in campaign financing.
“Money in politics has become a really big problem, not just in Ghana but across the continent,” he said.
Prof. Prempeh said technology, while capable of improving electoral transparency, could equally be exploited to manipulate electoral processes.
He cited AI-generated disinformation, deepfakes and coordinated information manipulation as emerging threats that could spread false narratives faster than fact-checkers could counter them.
He said the key issue was no longer whether technology should be embraced, but how it could be deployed with appropriate safeguards and clear accountability when abuses occurred.
Prof. Prempeh also stressed the importance of protecting civic space, saying independent civil society organisations, free media and citizen observers were necessary to expose financial and technological manipulation during elections.
EC backs transparency
Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission, Samuel Dottoh Kwaah, said transparency and inclusion were essential to building public confidence in elections.
He said the Commission was working to make different stages of the electoral process open to scrutiny, including voter registration, publication of voter information, ballot printing, verification and declaration of results.
“Transparency and inclusion are the surest way to deliver elections that are free, fair and acceptable by stakeholders and citizens alike,” he said.
Mr Kwaah called for sustained cooperation among electoral stakeholders to ensure that technological advances, greater political participation and democratic freedoms translated into increased public confidence in electoral outcomes.
