Call for better campaign financing rules

Additionally, panelists during an online seminar on Friday, suggested that the Integrity in Public Life Bill, that was surprisingly defeated in the Senate last month, was critical for good governance.

The issues came up for discussion during one of the sessions at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) Public Sector Conference 2020, which was held online under the theme, Re-engineering Public Sector Management.

The controversial matter of campaign financing was raised by moderator, retired permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance William Layne, during the session on Corporate Governance – Its Relevance to the Public Sector and Public Interest Entities.

“Shouldn’t we look at the whole issue of campaign finance, how political parties are financed? Because an individual gives you $5 million to fund a campaign, he expects to call shots,” said Layne.

Pointing out that calls have been made in the past for campaign reform, Layne said suggestions have also been made that “perhaps the state should provide funding to the political party and ban them from accepting donations, or put a limit on it” to help improve governance.

In his response, Chris de Caires, Managing Director of the Fednav group of companies, agreed there was need for campaign reform to help improve governance.

“That is an absolutely important part of it. We have some very archaic rules, one of which is that we monitor the expense of the individual,and it is limited like a few thousands dollars, but yet each political campaign [can] cost anywhere between $10 million and $15 million.

“To raise that sort of funding generally, they go to a few big donors and those donors, if they put up a million dollar or whatever it is they put up, usually have some expectations of some particular return,” contended de Caires.

The former Private Sector Association chairman said while putting rules in place would be good, they would need to be enforced.

“So, I think it makes sense, and I don’t know how the mechanism is, and the mechanism is a secondary consideration, but I think there should be some way of having a public contribution and not necessary banning the contribution but making that information public. So, if you do support somebody you are identified, and maybe if it is under $10 you don’t have to worry but if it is over a certain level you get listed and somebody audits it,” he recommended.

On the question of whether the Integrity in Public Life Bill could serve as a deterrent for people to come forward for public office, de Caires said he believed the issue was not that of disclosing one’s assets.

“I think people have a difficulty with it more from a perspective that it is something they have never done before, and it is prying into their personal lives. But I think as we move more into this arena of anti-money laundering there is very little financially that you have now that won’t get disclosed at some point,” he said.

“So, I think people just need to get used to that and some people for various reasons and some very genuine, won’t want to commit and that may be a loss, but that is a part of the cost of implementing good systems.”

He said the legislation was just a part of the process and it would also require a change in mindset.

“To my mind [legislation] is like a 20 per cent type contributor to making things work, but the substantial part that makes things work is our attitudes and behaviour, which essentially translate into our culture as to what we accept,” de Caires said.

Meanwhile, commenting on both issues, Lawyer and chartered governance professional Sandra Osborne said: “It is really about managing potential conflicts of interest.

“One of the classic ways of managing potential conflicts of interest is disclosure. It may result in certain things but at the end of the day disclosure is really the first step in the management of any potential conflict,” she said.

Osborne said while there were already some processes for reporting when it came to campaign financing, “the question is, is it adequate in terms of really making sure we understand the identity and the parties who have made contributions? That may not quite be there”.

She added: “I think that the reality is that campaigns need to be financed. The question is, how do you manage it in such a way that there is transparency in terms of the potential for conflicts of interest? That is why I come to disclosure as a first step. I don’t think we can avoid having campaign financing. I don’t see how it is possible.”

“So, it really is a matter of building a mechanism around the activity that makes sure what is being done is open and any decisions that are taken subsequently could be measured against that disclosure in terms of accountability.”
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb