INTRODUCTION TO THE REFLECTIVE WRITING ON GHANA 2020 ELECTION;A CASE STUDY.

 

UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND CULTURAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

PROGRAMME:

MPHIL IN SOCIAL CHANGE COMMUNICATION

 

PROPOSED TOPIC:

REFLECTIVE WRITING ON GHANA,S ELECTION 2020

COURSE TITLE:

MSC 532: MEDIA AND JOURNALISM TODAY

COURSE LECTURER:AMADU MOHAMMED FAISAL (PhD)

SUBMITTED BY:

MOHAMMED MAHAMUD

INDEX NUMBER: UDS/MSC/0012/22

SUBMISSION DATE:

25/09/2023    

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE REFLECTIVE WRITING ON GHANA 2020 ELECTION;A CASE STUDY.

Presidential election and parliamentary elections were held in Ghana on December 7, 2020. After 28 years of multiparty democracy, this represented the eighth general elections. The first one was in 1992 and following the restoration of multiparty democracy by the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) junta, represented a turning point in the history of Ghana (Constitution of Ghana, 1992; Osei, 2013).

Election is critical tool use in any democratic societies globally to choose leaders to man the affairs of a country for a fixed period of time. In the context of Ghana, the constitution provides four years for every president and renewable for another four years after which his or her term expires [Article 66 of Ghana constitution]. But for parliamentarians, they have unexpired term office provided their mandates can be renewed by their constituents every four years. The 2020 general elections was critical in the sense that, former president John Dramani Mahama of NDC party who was annexed through polls in 2016, staged a comeback to battle it with a sitting president  Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo who had also served a four year tenure and seeking the mandate of the people to finish his constitutionally eight year tenure. The international community all had their lenses on Ghana’s polls as in one instance Ghana is touted as a beacon of peace and a torchbearer of Africans democracy as it’s the first country to gain independence of the West African sub region. Of particular importance was the expectation of the media to be fair and balance in their reportage to rekindle the hope in Ghana as a beacon of peace and democracy. However a lot happened in the media space to learned credence that, most media houses were in bed with the ruling NPP as most pertinent issues was skewed from public consumption. No formal investigation is also concluded on the number of brutalities and deaths that occurred as a result of these elections.The media plays a pivotal role before, during and after the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. From local media to international media, all focus their lenses on the campaign messages of the two major political parties so that voters an well be informed to make the right choices. DW and GhanaFact, an Accra-based fact-checking organization, have examined six of the most popular campaign pledges made by Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP).These are: Abolishing fees at public senior high schools, Ensuring each district has a hospital, Building one factory in each district (One District One Factory initiative), Cutting corporate taxes, Establishing a special anti-corruption prosecutor Electing local government representatives among others. The team rates this as promise partly fulfilled.

Facts and data provided by GhanaFact. [https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097           12/06/2020].This report when released, point to many as though the sitting president Nana Akuffo Addo is still relevant and an deliver on his remaining campaign promises if given a mandate renewal. The DW and Ghanafact were therefore perceived as setting an agenda for the electorates. Its however refreshing to note that, this DW TV also reported on the deaths that occurred as a result of the elections. One personal observation I experienced is the beef between the two contending political parties in a bit for the largest opposition NDC to do everything possible to discredit the outcome of the election results even before voting day. Their actions includes boycotting interparty advisory committee [ IPAC ] by the electoral commission of Ghana ,misinterpreting constitutional instruments[CI ]guiding the elections to their party faithful among others. I should be quick to admit that the same postures are also exhibited when NPP is in opposition. These actions by the two major parties gives rise to the explosion of fake news about the elections keeping the anxieties of citizens to keep rising by the day as to what the possible dangers they could be subjected to.I personally granted an interview to a joy FM correspondent on the 3^rd of December 2020 about the possible outcome of the 2020 general elections. An intertribal symposium and cultural displays was organize by the opinion leaders of komkomba market at Agbogloshei in Accra to preach the need for peace and unity before during and after the election among all followers of various political parties in the area. This was so suitable as the place is one of the flashpoints for electoral violence. The reporter posed the question ‘’Do you envisage any violent confrontations in this our upcoming general elections’’? My answer was that, on one breath yes and on another breath no. Why I say  yes is that ,if all the stakeholders play their roles effectively and efficiently to the admiration of all parties involved, they will be no cause for violent but if some section of the parties especially the opposition feel shortchanged by the actions of the independent electoral commissioner, they could be possible  violent confrontations. ‘’Thank you my brother’’ he said.Africanews.com had this to say about fake news on their portal regarding 2020 general elections of Ghana www.africanews.com/2020/12/22/ghanafact-combating-misinformation-during-elections/ ‘’Specifically on the day of voting, he added: “During the polls, we faced the challenge of information flow from key stakeholders to help quell the spread of misinformation. These are the sort of gaps that allow for the easy spread of misinformation. Another challenge has to do with the capacity of the team members to know how to use digital tools for fact-checking’

 They was a mixed of excitement, anxiety and indifference as far as the pivotal role of the media to cover and disseminate elections 2020 was concern. One of the refreshing excitements was the position of the independent presidential candidate of Ghana freedom party, madam Akua Donkor promising a whopping one year maternity leave to mothers to counter the NDC four months maternity-leave as a manifesto promise.Another exciting episode was the Supreme Court hearing of the 2020 election petition when during cross examination, the third witness for the former president John Dramani Mahama, Rojo Mettle Nunoo indicated he was only given tea without biscuits. This statement generated a lot of excitement among the citizens of the country. On the point of anxiety, the shooting of civilians at Techiman south constituency with daring Citi TV reporter mustering courage to take video recordings of the incident was worrisome. Our anxiety was aggravated when the reporters indicated the likelihood of similar incidence occurring at other constituencies. The delay in the announcement of the winner of the presidential elections and further counter announcement of different results by the same electoral commissioner made many people to doubt the credibility of the polls .Most citizens therefore felt it wasn’t worth following the chronicles of events of the elections. Even to the point of the former president sending the matter to Supreme Court, most weren’t interested of any outcome.

Media is undoubtedly a powerful tool in any democracy and pivotal in any election coverage in luging Ghana’s election 2020.  Journalists can get involved in elections is by choosing which candidates to cover and how much. Those choices alone can have a huge effect on voter perceptions.In the case of Ghana and particularly election 2020 we heard the two major parties, the NDC and NPP pointing accusing fingers at each other of not been given fair coverage especially the national broadcaster,Ghana broadcasting cooperation[GBC].I should be quick to add that both parties are caught in this flimsy accusations whenever the mantle of authority change hands through elections. Media bias could be defined as the unjust favoritism and reporting of a certain ideas or standpoint.

Varied insights were gain as a result of media coverage of election 2020 of Ghana. The media reported various updates and timelines of the electoral omission of Ghana to both citizens and contesting political parties. These gave me and many political watchers alike to follow keenly the chronicles of events leading up to the polls. The consumption of various media outlets gave me an insight to double-check facts to avoid misinformation and fake news. Major speaking local languages of the country were also used by various media to educate the teaming illiterate society on voting processes giving a comprehensive posture and flavor to the elections. Both fulfilled and unfulfilled campaign promises of the two major political parties were also highlighted by the media to enable citizens make informed choices to better their lives. The free senior high school education was comprehensively covered. Aspects that were overlooked included limited voter transfer by the electoral commission to people with special duties on voting day like the security personnel whiles neglecting the whole citizenry vote transfer at the eleventh hour to the elections day. The political meddling of traditional rulers were also underreported making many of them to now come out boldly to declare their supports to candidates of their choice which contravenes the laws of Ghana. The timely updates of election results on the display of TV screens of some media houses was in line with expectations unlike previously many constituency results were kept for days like 1996 and 2000 general eletions.The timely reportage at the various regional coalition centers created by the electoral omission to help deepened transparency also met my expectation of reducing an incidence of vote rigging because of the watchdog role of the media.

Any type of material that is distributed through electronic means is considered digital media. Electronic devices can be used to create, watch, edit, and distribute this kind of material. Software, video games, movies, websites, social media, and online advertising are all examples of digital media. Despite the fact that digital media is ingrained in our daily lives, company owners still feel uneasy about switching to Internet marketing services in place of traditional paper advertising. One cannot, however, ignore the impact that digital media has on our way of life given the ongoing changes in technology. It alters how we regularly engage with one another, educate ourselves, enjoy ourselves, and publish. The presidential candidates for the NPP and NDC were by far the most visible and engaged online, demonstrating a significant disparity in resources between them and other candidates. The two major parties used social media teams to undermine the opposition and support their own presidential candidates by posting coordinated content across a variety of channels.81 Twitter activity revealed that political rhetoric was being amplified by human curation, indicating coordinated efforts to inflate the amount of online support that was actually not there. Both parties' misinformation campaigns on Facebook and Twitter run the risk of misleading voters and influencing how they form ideas about elections. Facebook third-party fact-checkers later debunked a video that had been widely shared, including on an NDC support page, and had claimed that the President had been the victim of bribery. An NPP Facebook support page claimed that the President had arranged for the dispatch of aircraft to the Aviation Ministry in order to resuscitate Ghana Airways, a claim that was later refuted. Celebrities with substantial internet sway disavowed both parties' claims that they had obtained their backing on Twitter.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

What I have learnt is that, most media houses are perceived as being rented and therefore do the bidding of their paymasters. The media houses owned by political actors chained out content in favors of their owners. With this at the background, my future engagements with media and journalist in electioneering season should make me to do double checking of facts between private and state owned media before drawing conclusions of matters of national concern and interests. I will equip myself with media literacy to determine objective and subjective contents of media and journalists especially the private media. The media coverage of 2020 elections was comprehensive and was entered on issue base rather than the usual name calling and slogans. It engaged the political parties in debates so that citizens were well informed to make informed deisions.The proliferation of technology gave rise to information overload on electoral matters giving rise to fake news, misinformation and disinformation making the seeking for right information daunting tasks. Media literacy is therefore a must for all citizens to learn about the various forms of media and its utilization.

 

REFERENES:

 

 DW and GhanaFact. [https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-909712/06/2020]

FAKE NEWS REPORT: www.africanews.com/2020/12/22/ghanafact-combating-misinformation-during-elections

European Union Election Observation Mission GHANA 2020 Final Report 7, pp [30-31]      

Osei [2013] Constitution of Ghana, 1992