GINA producing PPP/C campaign ads
In what is only the first official day of the political campaign ahead of May 11 elections, it has come to light that the Government Information Agency (GINA) is behind the production of a PPP/C political advertisement now playing on the television and available on YouTube here.
Given that GINA is funded by taxpayers this would constitute the misuse of state resources on behalf of the incumbent party, and would be considered a violation of the standards required for free and fair elections. Many more such high quality advertisements are now in production scripted and directed by government employees.
This was a major concern of the Commonwealth Observer Groupβs report into the 2011 elections which wrote, βThe opposition parties and media claimed to have documented, through photographs and video, the abuse of incumbency through the use of state funds and resources for campaigning purposes and concluded βAs a consequence of the media bias and the resources at the disposal of the incumbent, there was not a sufficiently level playing field for the campaign.β