Political Party Financing and why it Matters in Tanzania

Abstract

The achievement of sustainable democracy demands that particular attention must be paid to the issue of political finance, or the financing of politics. This paper is about political party financing and why it matters in the political process. The paper identifies various forms of political party financing and their challenges. In the context of Tanzania, the paper also identifies and discusses the flaws and gaps in Political Parties Act as well as other legislations regarding party financing. The article recommend that party financing should aim to strike an innovative balance between a shortage of funds, which is no good for a sustainable democracy, and a waste of money, which is no good for a healthy democracy either. Among the key recommendations is that public funding for ongoing party activities and campaigns should be allocated by a mix of proportional rules and flat subsidies to all parties that meet reasonable thresholds and flat subsidies as refers here imply providing subsidies to all political parties on equal basis. The other key recommendation is that oversight entities, (that is the Registrar of Political Parties and the NEC) should be independent, nonpartisan, and equipped with sufficient human and financial resources and authority to enforce the country’s laws.

Key words: politics, political parties, democracy, political party financing