By Mitchell Asare Amoamah
The first International Political Communication Conference was held last Friday in Accra to reflect on the state of political communication in Ghana, lessons learned and contemplate the way forward.
The event, which was organized the Center for Public Discourse and Analysis (CPDA), was on the theme “A New Democratic Era: Enhancing Civil Political Discourse for Democratic Growth”.
The conference, first of its kind, took place at the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Dzorwulu, Accra in a hall filled with scholars, journalists and students.
In his nearly hour-and-a-half address, the keynote speaker, Benjamin Offei-Addo, a media and governance expert, bemoaned the state of political communication in
Ghana, calling for urgent action by stakeholders to rein in on the hyperpartisan media climate.
He underscored the role of the media in garnering public support for democratic institutions and encouraging civic participation in governance.
Mr. Offei-Addo lamented over the practice of successive oppositions rallying against nearly every initiative championed by incubment governments. He warned it could stifle nation building and sow seeds to rancor among the population.
“So long as people are in opposition, anything a government does is wrong and so they will deliberately devise disinformation to make any activity of government look very bad.
“And what that does is; We move a step forward and two steps back. Nothing by way of initiatives gets to be sustained because while they are in opposition, everything that is being done is bad. ‘If you vote for us we are going to change it’ so we don’t have continuity when it comes to our national development,” he bemoaned during his speech.
A lecturer at UniMAC-Institute of Journalism, Dr. Paul Herzuah who delivered a review of the address noted that the proposed reforms to the National Media Commission would help sanitize the media space.
He underscored the role of media ownership in influencing content churned out by media houses.
The Executive Director of CPDA, Professor Etse Sikanku said this event was held in order to underscore the need for professional political communication and to strengthen the field to contribute cogently to politics and democracy in Ghana.
The CPDA is a think-tank organisation that conducts research and advocacy in a wide-range of areas including politics and media.
In recent times, it has organised a number of impactful programmes including two Vice-Presidential Permutation fora ahead of the 2024 Ghanaian presidential election and Start Right, an initiative aimed at equipping university students with the essential skills and knowledge in order to excel in their academic pursuits.
