Our friends over at Barbados Free Press say that they agree with the Nation article that elections should not be state-funded –we disagree! We all know how both parties have operated over the years as far as funding elections is concerned. As the Nation articles states both parties have historically passed the hat around:
It does a country no harm that parties have to pass the hat around at election time. Politics is public business. That does not mean parties must be state funded, but their finances must be transparent.”
The reality though is that in that historically the BLP has been more aligned to the merchant class with the DLP formulating policies geared to the masses. Consequently it stands to reason that a BLP party would attract more funding. I am sorry but simple logic says that if a party is receiving significant funds from companies there should be some expectation from those companies that the decision making process of any BLP government would be flavoured or contain a bias to the donor companies. However the big conundrum is that for the BLP to win any government it probably has to make promises to the masses which would put it at variance with satisfying the expectations of the merchant class.
Barbados Free Press Article
Nation News Comes Out Against State-Funded Elections – We Agree
Article Actually Calls For Political Parties To Account For Their Finances!
“Political parties are prone to believing their organisational interest is identical to the public interest. It is not. The public interest lies in ensuring elections are contested as openly, intensely and freely as possible by people with their integrity intact.
It does a country no harm that parties have to pass the hat around at election time. Politics is public business. That does not mean parties must be state funded, but their finances must be transparent.”
… from a Nation News Editorial Parties Not Another Arm Of State
Hmmm…. maybe we’re making some progress here.Now let’s see if The Nation News starts naming names and —- oh yes —- Let’s see The Nation News DEMAND that Owen Arthur account for the $750,000 “campaign donation” cheque that was deposited into his personal account.
Come on, Nation News!
Do you have enough courage and sense of public duty to print that question in big bold letters?
To avoid or minimize the influence of the merchant or corporate class, state funded elections would be a good start to promote transparency which might just enable the environment for integrity legislation as well as encourage the formation of other parties.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.