By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: The Chronicle. Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
Unfolding events after the December 7 elections which ended up in a deadlock between the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has shown how both sides of the political divide have become desperate to win power in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
Over the last couple of days, the two political parties have employed both fair and foul tactics which can best be likened to sheer propaganda in their campaigns, contrary to an earlier promise of strictly focusing their campaign messages on issues and policies.
Whilst the ruling NPP is strenuously trying to consolidate the gains it made in the December 7 elections to retain power, the opposition NDC is also doing all it can to return to the reins of government after losing out in the 2000 elections which ushered the NPP to power.
Among the series of propaganda messages being employed by both parties include the NPP accusing the NDC and its founder, Jerry John Rawlings of having prepared a supposed 'hit list' to eliminate certain outspoken Pastors who are alleged not to be supporting the NDC.
On the other hand, the NDC is also circulating documents with huge sums of monies running into several billions of cedis, showing the account numbers and names of certain Ministers and members of the ruling NPP on a supposed Prudential Bank letterhead to create the impression that those monies had been siphoned from state coffers by those whose names were given.
Though these strategies are meant to win the votes and sympathies of Ghanaians, they appear to be causing much disaffection for both political parties.
However, a Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Kwasi Amakye-Boateng is not the least surprised about unfolding events and developments which has taken place in the country over the last couple of days or probably weeks. He believes that both the NDC and NPP have lost their calm and are acting out of nervousness or in panic reaction gear.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, he noted that both parties seem to have hit their wits end in issue-based campaigns, and are rather churning out propaganda messages to unmake their opponents, in order to win the confidence of Ghanaian voters, especially those who are yet to decide on who to vote for (floating voters).
He, however, noted that the misinformation being employed by the NDC and NPP would not necessarily influence the decision of the floating voters, since they are not based on issues, policies and programmes and how they affect their livelihood. To him, they would rather excite members and supporters of the parties.
In the end, he said it would do more harm than good to the country since it will divide the Ghanaian society along various ethnic and political lines, instead of uniting them as one people and one nation after the elections.
He therefore, expressed grave doubts as to whether the propaganda messages would influence the decisions of the teeming floating voters who are yet to make their minds on which of the two candidates, the NDC's Professor John Evans Atta Mills and the NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to vote for.
At the end of day, he noted that the party which is able to give hope to the people will win their confidence and thus urged both the NDC and NPP to keep their calm and campaign on issues instead of vile propaganda.
The NPP's Kwabena Agyapong and the NDC's Seth Ofori yesterday accused each other's political party of employing black propaganda in their campaign to woo voters.
However, they both tried to distance their political parties from any of the propaganda messages making the rounds in sections of the media.
Propaganda is defined as the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartiality in providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.
It often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the targeted audience to further a political agenda.
That notwithstanding, it generally appeals to emotion, contrasted to an appeal to intellect generated, usually by governments and political parties, since it shares techniques with advertising and public relations.
Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches in the olden days.
Posted: The Chronicle. Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
Unfolding events after the December 7 elections which ended up in a deadlock between the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has shown how both sides of the political divide have become desperate to win power in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
Over the last couple of days, the two political parties have employed both fair and foul tactics which can best be likened to sheer propaganda in their campaigns, contrary to an earlier promise of strictly focusing their campaign messages on issues and policies.
Whilst the ruling NPP is strenuously trying to consolidate the gains it made in the December 7 elections to retain power, the opposition NDC is also doing all it can to return to the reins of government after losing out in the 2000 elections which ushered the NPP to power.
Among the series of propaganda messages being employed by both parties include the NPP accusing the NDC and its founder, Jerry John Rawlings of having prepared a supposed 'hit list' to eliminate certain outspoken Pastors who are alleged not to be supporting the NDC.
On the other hand, the NDC is also circulating documents with huge sums of monies running into several billions of cedis, showing the account numbers and names of certain Ministers and members of the ruling NPP on a supposed Prudential Bank letterhead to create the impression that those monies had been siphoned from state coffers by those whose names were given.
Though these strategies are meant to win the votes and sympathies of Ghanaians, they appear to be causing much disaffection for both political parties.
However, a Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Kwasi Amakye-Boateng is not the least surprised about unfolding events and developments which has taken place in the country over the last couple of days or probably weeks. He believes that both the NDC and NPP have lost their calm and are acting out of nervousness or in panic reaction gear.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, he noted that both parties seem to have hit their wits end in issue-based campaigns, and are rather churning out propaganda messages to unmake their opponents, in order to win the confidence of Ghanaian voters, especially those who are yet to decide on who to vote for (floating voters).
He, however, noted that the misinformation being employed by the NDC and NPP would not necessarily influence the decision of the floating voters, since they are not based on issues, policies and programmes and how they affect their livelihood. To him, they would rather excite members and supporters of the parties.
In the end, he said it would do more harm than good to the country since it will divide the Ghanaian society along various ethnic and political lines, instead of uniting them as one people and one nation after the elections.
He therefore, expressed grave doubts as to whether the propaganda messages would influence the decisions of the teeming floating voters who are yet to make their minds on which of the two candidates, the NDC's Professor John Evans Atta Mills and the NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to vote for.
At the end of day, he noted that the party which is able to give hope to the people will win their confidence and thus urged both the NDC and NPP to keep their calm and campaign on issues instead of vile propaganda.
The NPP's Kwabena Agyapong and the NDC's Seth Ofori yesterday accused each other's political party of employing black propaganda in their campaign to woo voters.
However, they both tried to distance their political parties from any of the propaganda messages making the rounds in sections of the media.
Propaganda is defined as the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartiality in providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.
It often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the targeted audience to further a political agenda.
That notwithstanding, it generally appeals to emotion, contrasted to an appeal to intellect generated, usually by governments and political parties, since it shares techniques with advertising and public relations.
Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches in the olden days.
No comments:
Post a Comment