By Abdul Razak Bawa
From all indications since 2017, it is obvious to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear that, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), does not have the true interest of the country at heart. But they nonetheless have an understanding of power and how to keep it.
Power, as they say emanate from the people. There is no democracy without the people, the electorate who, at all times, hold all the aces.
Human beings get influenced by so many things, what they read, hear or see, it is the reason why, established brands, like Coca Cola, Guinness, Microsoft, Samsung, I phone, still spend millions of dollars on advertisement every year.
Selling a product, no matter how good it is with advertisement, is like winking at a lady in the dark. It is a wasted effort, because she will not see what you are trying to communicate.
Man, I used this to denote both male and female, is expected to get better with age, if a child is born and after two years, he is not able to walk, the logical conclusion is that, something might be wrong with the child. So is an organization, it is to be assumed that, after running an organization for a number of years, it is expected to learn from its mistakes and get better.
In the aftermath of the 2016 elections, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) set up a committee led by Prof. Kwesi Botwey to examine what led to the landslide victory of its opponent. Among the groups the committee met was the media.
The media personnel present, had the opportunity for the first time to air their concerns, grievances, as well as proffer solutions for the way forward, especially how the party should deal with the media.
Typical of the NDC that meeting did not yield any results, as whatever was suggested was thrown into the dustbin, the moment the ink on the paper it was written on dried.
Every political party, all over the world, even in countries where democracy is not practiced, has media that is aligned to them. It is not a crime; it is just the way things are. In the United States of America for example, Fox News is aligned to the Republican Party, whereas CNN, is aligned to the Democratic Party, this is an open secret.
Back home in Ghana, Daily Guide, Crusading Guide newspapers, Oman FM etc, are predisposed to the New Patriotic Party. Radio Gold, Daily Post, The Herald, etc, are favorable to the NDC.
A political party, either in government or opposition cannot function properly without the media. You need the media to sell your ideas when in opposition and in government to propagate your achievements and good work.
Thanks to the white man, the boundaries of the traditional media, has been expanded to include social media. In order to control the narrative, you need to have both traditional and social media on your side. Remember, in Ghana, not everyone is on social media, so a neglect of one over the other could be fatal.
In the 2020 general election, the NDC came close to annexing power from the NPP. Every political actor or pollster, who is devoid of any bias, will tell you that, the performance of the NDC, was because the NPP, shot themselves in the foot, it was not because the NDC had a better argument.
The fact is that, Ghanaians got fed up with the NPP. Usually, people easily get fed up with parties in government in their second term, largely due to familiarity, but with the NPP, the level of corruption, impunity, nepotism etc, started very early in the first year of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
After the Supreme Court ruling on whether or not Deputy Speakers of parliament have the right to vote, the whole country was thrown into frenzy, president Akufo-Addo, in far away Dubai, attending Expo 2022, chose according to him for the first time to comment on Constitutional matter, which had gone before the Apex Court, spoke exclusively to Charles Takyi Boadu of the Daily Guide newspaper, a pro-government newspaper.
What the president did, was to give not only mileage to the newspaper, but a leverage that would go a long way to enhance the credibility and acceptability of the media house.
Former president John Dramani Mahama, on the other hand chose in the abundance of media houses predisposed to his party, to tweet rather.
While, the NPP has tactically used the media to its advantage, the NDC seems to fail woefully at this simple task.
Perhaps, the fact that the NDC party was birthed out of revolution could be the reason for the stoic approach to problem solving techniques.
The intention of both parties towards the media is very clear, it is clear from the way they treat their media.
The NPP understands that every day, people increase their voracious appetite for the media. What is consumed and how it is consumed shapes the human mind and perception and the party appreciates that.
It is the reason why the NDC feels that the NPP has unfettered control and access to the media. It is said that, he who pays the piper, calls the tune, whether in government or opposition, the NPP, understands the role of the media and they make deliberate effort to recognize that.
The NDC, must not always hope to come to power on the back of NPP’s failure, it may help them today but not tomorrow as more and more people become enlighten and want to take part in nation building.
It looks like every agency, department or ministry, has been mandated to deal with the media, most especially the ones that are predisposed to the NPP.
It is my hope that, when next the NDC comes to power, hopefully in 2024, because the NPP, are filing their own divorce papers with Ghanaians by the way and manner they are going about things, they will learn to appreciate the media.
We make no excuse for choosing to be aligned to the NDC, it is how things are supposed to be, as we can’t all belong to the same party.
The NPP, has gotten everything wrong, as it is evident from the way they are running the country, but if they is one thing they have done right and continue to do right, it is the way they treat their media.
President John Agyekum Kufuor, made a conscious and deliberate effort to invest in the media, it is the result we see in Daily Guide today, but for the laid back attitude of Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, the New Crusading Guide, would have been like the New York Times.
When you offer couples mat, you somehow have the right to tell them how to lie on it. The zero interest in the welfare and sustenance of the media by the NDC is why today many newspapers aligned to the party are no longer on the newsstand.
As to whether the party will do anything difference in 2025, when it assumes the reign of power, the answer is blowing in the wind.
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