Cleaning up the party funding mechanism is among the greatest challenges modern Sri Lanka is facing. For too long the party funding issue been shrugged under the carpet and been conducted according to some old rules; no one allegedly follows nomore. This has ignited fears (probably scare mongering, or maybe not?) such as the pro west parties such as UNP are funded by crypto Christian forces, and if the TNA (Tamil national alliance) is still funded by pro Eelam front organisations of what used to be the LTTE (not many people doubt that; at least I don’t). And for the argument’s sake I shall question “if the more conservative parties such as SLFP and Hela-Urumaya are funded by anti-western forces?” So here are my 2 cents worth… I have tried to word the following as a part of the constitution or as one of its amendments.
- A cash sum that is expected to be paid back to the source must be one that was received by the political party under the category of a loan. The category under which the party received the cash sum may only remain under the same category as it was when it was received. (I.e. a donation can’t be changed late into a loan and paid back.. I’m not sure if I have worded it clearly enough)
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall only receive donations from a Sri Lankan national.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall only obtain a loan through either a bank which is authorized to do business in Sri Lanka, a privately owned company incorporated in Sri Lanka which has been doing business for at least 10 years under the current owner.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka may not own any income generating assets, unordered to ensure that its policy decisions are not biased.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall only receive a loan or a donation from a named source
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall only receive a cash sum from a source that is not directly connected to its elected members’ immediate family.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall submit make all of its accounts to the public domain.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall not accept any covert conditions attached to a loan or a donation. (this in practise will be easy to get around haha check this out http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/937232.stm )
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall document all accounts without exception.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka shall not be entitled to have other entities people to accept or carryout transactions/expenditure on their behalf. (for example the TNA won’t be allowed to have a 3rd party legal entity accept money from LTTE front organisations and have it spend on behalf of them… )
- A donation is defined as a cash sum received by a recognised political party of Sri Lanka, with no formal conditions attached.
- A loan is defined as a cash sum received by a recognised political party of Sri Lanka, with formal conditions attached regarding interest and payback time.
- A recognised political party of Sri Lanka may not accept any cash sums from any of the following lists
I wonder how he will make ends meet?
- An NGO neither foreign nor local
- A religious organisation
- A foreign national
- A foreign commercial entity
- A foreign government
- A department of the democratic socialist if Sri Lanka
- A cooperation owned by the state either fully or partially.
- An entity listed as a terrorist group. Or a Tamil tiger front organisation.
- Any foreign state.
- An individual who has had past links with any banned terrorist group.
My intentions are not to bring total anachy accross the sri lankan political system.; therefore if these proposals are ever implimented it would certainly be a good idea it is done gradually.
If our priority is to make our political system more equitable and more representative of local interests then I would argue that my proposals can be of use.
Another alternative to stopping dodgey party funding is for the govt to directly fund political parties; but the cost would be ginormous considering the “ridiculous” number of political parties in sri lanka