KAMPALA: The Alliance for Finance Monitoring (ACFIM), a research organisation, has organised a second webinar that will discuss the impact of campaign financing on elections in Africa.
The webinar themed “Money Controlling Voter Consent: Implications on Democracy in Africa” is scheduled for Thursday, 25th November 2021 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm (East African Time).
According to ACFIM, the webinar series offers a platform for provocative discussions with citizens, politicians, academia, pro-democracy actors and relevant institutions in Africa on key issues concerning electoral democracy.
“The aftermath of this engagement is intended to provide lessons and necessary policy shifts for government consideration to improve on the ecosystem of electoral democracy,” they said in an invitation.
“These discussions are further intended to create awareness on how money controls voter consent and its effect on the growth of democracy in Africa,” they added.
To participate in the discussion, users can use
https://bit.ly/3nHj7kF
The Webinar ID is 854 4381 1608 and Passcode: 066450
according to a report titled ‘Pre-campaign Spending Monitoring: Reflections ahead of 2021 National Elections’ published by ACFIM maintains that in Uganda, money is the most preferred mode of campaigning by candidates vying for positions of Member of Parliament (MP) and other local government positions.
The study, conducted between July 2019 and October 2020, sought to establish the amount of money various candidates and political parties spent in the pre-campaign period.
The report states that in the run up to the 2021 campaigns, seven major political parties, including the National Resistance Movement, spent Shs250b on the understanding that money is a crucial determinant of whether or not a candidate will win the race.
