Many lament that weak accountability and poor governance impede economic development
in Africa. Politicians rely on ethnic allegiances that deliver the vote irrespective of performance,
dampening electoral incentives. Giving voters information about candidate competence counters
ethnic loyalty and strengthens accountability. I extend a canonical electoral model to show how
information provision áows through voter behavior and ultimately impacts the distribution of political
spending. I test the theory on data from Sierra Leone using decentralization and di§erential
radio coverage to identify informationís e§ects. Estimates suggest that information increases voting
across ethnic-party lines and induces a more equitable allocation of campaign spending.