Campaign Financing and Commercialisation of Politics: A Review of the Effectiveness of the Legal Framework in Uganda
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Date
2016-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kampala International University, School of law.
Abstract
The study investigated the effectiveness or adequacy of the electoral legal framework in
regulation of Campaign financing in Uganda. The research objectives were to; identifY the
elements of campaign financing in Uganda; identifY the gaps available in the electoral legal
framework in regard to campaign financing in Uganda and make necessary recommendations
towards the electoral legal framework and campaign financing in Uganda. A cross-sectional
survey research design was used adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The
research used a sample of I 46 respondents. Simple random sampling and Purposive sampling
were both used. Methods of data collection were questionnaires and interviews guides.
Descriptive statistics provided the techniques of numerically and graphically presenting
information. Qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis. Findings of the study
revealed that political candidates did not receive campaign funding from government yet the
Political Parties and other organizations Act 2005 (PPOA) as amended do provide for public
funding of political parties; the existing law assigns the role of supervising adherence to
campaign finance regulations to Electoral commission but there seems to be issues with its
implementation and the public was not sensitised about the laws regulating campaign financing
because fiĀ·om the interviews, what the respondent identified as key expenditure points for
campaign financing are illegal. The researcher concluded that failure to regulate the arena of
campaign finance allows the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations to drown out
the voices of individual citizens which might cause the public to become disillusioned with and
mistrustful of the political system. The study recommends that; the element of limits on
contributions and expenditure should be included in the laws governing campaign financing by
the Parliament of Uganda and that Uganda legislature enact necessary legislation and/or
propose necessary constitutional initiatives to impose limits on political contributions to
candidates and political parties.
Description
A research project report submitted to the School of
Law in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For
the Award of Bachelors Degree in Laws of Kampala
International University
Keywords
Politics, Campaign Financing, Commercialization, Effectiveness, Uganda