Clean break in party financing

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is facing one of the biggest tests of his career when he is answering questions in Parliament about cash he received in the 1990s. He recently admitted receiving loans worth €50,000 from businessmen friends while he was occupying the post of Finance Minister way back in 1993 and 1994. Meanwhile, the British police have extended their cash-for-peerages probe to look into loans to political parties as far back as 2001. The investigation was launched amid claims that the government had broken the law preventing the sale of honours, ahead of last year's general election.

But this is not a one off. We all remember former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl resigning as honorary chairman of the opposition Christian Democratic Union party after refusing to reveal details of a party funding scandal and French President Jacques Chirac's ally, Alain Juppé, who was found guilty in a party financing scandal and subsequently replaced by the then Minister of Finance Nicolas Sarkozy as the new head of the governing UMP party.

What about Malta? Should the government propose tighter limits on party spending? Has the reliance on large donors distanced political parties from the public? How should parties be funded? These questions have been running through my mind lately.

I believe that a basic form of state funding for political parties is necessary. Public financial support would mean that parties would owe their daily bread to the general taxpayers whom they are to represent in the first place. It will mean less blackmail and more policies in the interest of the public and not of powerful special interests.

There need to be measures designed to promote greater fairness and openness in local politics, underpinned by the principles of accountability and equality. Accountability can be achieved by requiring parties to disclose all sources of funding over a previously agreed amount.

Parties would have to produce an annual fiscal statement that must contain a meticulous breakdown of revenue and expenditure. Equality will rely on a combination of expenditure limits and state assistance to parties and candidates based on electoral achievements.

This means that the parties must detail money donations and values of goods and services that have been loaned, advanced or granted by individuals or institutions.

Alongside the system of disclosure there should be strict limits on party and non-party spending and spending by outside organisations that could benefit a political party. It is logical to delimit spending for the well-being of democracy. This is due to the fact that in theory a small party with a big backing from the few can become more powerful than a larger party with backing from many who are relatively far less affluent.

Politics has relied on big backers for too long. There should be transparency and business should not be allowed to contribute to political parties because this inevitably leads to corruption and in donors being rewarded huge contracts. Furthermore, political parties should act like all other businesses and thus sustain their own operations within their own means and not spend what they do not possess. Parties are nowadays borrowing against the future. They must learn to balance their books. If they cannot balance their books why should the public trust them to office?

Having said that, the parties should not become dependent on public funds and other means of funding, as, for instance, fund-raising activities and party memberships should be sought out. A greater emphasis must be put on recruitment of volunteers within parties and spending should focus on areas of policy and research.

Contributions of more than Lm1,000 to parties and Lm500 to individuals must be disclosed and donations exceeding Lm10,000 must be prohibited. I personally believe that forcing parties to rely on ordinary members is the best thing that could happen in politics. Parties should depend on, and be controlled by, their ordinary members because that's a fundamental principle of real democracy.

The current system stinks; no wonder people turn their backs on politics. Let's change to have a level playing field. Let's have a clean break in party financing.