When we launched The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) in October of 2019, one of our first commitments was to transparency, particularly in the area of campaign financing.  We committed then, and since, to release information on our own campaign finances before and after the elections.  Today, we fulfill as promised the first part of that commitment.

Why is campaign finance transparency important?  

Simply put, when political parties are not required to disclose where their money comes from to run their campaigns, the public does not have a record of the companies and individuals who influence their decision-making while holding elected office. This establishes the fertile ground for the exact sort of corruption that has stretched across governments in this country.  The introduction of oil money into developing countries, particular those like Guyana with weak institutions, overwhelming results in increased corruption and shady deals.

We believe therefore that any political entity that is to be taken seriously on promises to transform this country for the betterment of all citizens has to begin with tangible commitments to campaign finance reform, ending in reformed legislation and supporting structures but beginning with voluntary disclosures.    This has been the recommendation of the Carter Center, Transparency Guyana, and CARICOM, and falls under our obligations towards fighting corruption under the United Nations Convention against Corruption to which we are signatory.

Why Release?

There are two primary reasons we are releasing our campaign finance information.  The first is simple – it is the right thing to do in the interest of public accountability, whether or not it is required by law.  Secondly, the primary purpose of the formation of TCI was to encourage participatory citizenship.  While political campaigns are expensive, we want to demonstrate that with commitment, strategy and accountability, running a campaign in order to participate in the democratic process is not prohibitively expensive.   We estimate that the average single campaign rally entertainment expenditure alone is double our total funds raised as of January, and the expenditure on party flags for just one major party will be dozens of times our expenditure for the entire election.  Still, not only have we made nomination day but we continue to run a solid ground campaign of meeting people, listening to their concerns and sharing our plans.  We believe that with greater accountability comes increased efficiency as well as greater participation, and this is fundamental to the democratic process.

Our Challenge

To date, no other party has shown any tangible commitment towards campaign finance transparency or reform.  In contrast, we have released, as promised, our summary campaign finance information before the actual elections have taken place.  This is not a requirement by law but we believe it is a critical measure towards inspiring public confidence in the integrity of political players.  We invite all other party lists to do the same in the interest of rebuilding a sense of public accountability.   We further challenge all other party lists to adhere to the law and submit their records of expenditure within 35 days after elections.