A group photo of the participants at the forum
Prof Audrey Gadzekpo, a celebrated media and communication scholar, has urged the media to be extra vigilant in mitigating information that could affect the overall goal of achieving a peaceful environment in Ghana, particularly as Ghana is in an election year.
The media scholar, who is also a board member of the West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR), explained that with the emergence of online and new media, there is greater responsibility on the media to ensure that it works to curtail mis and disinformation.
She made this known while speaking at the WADR Democracy and Governance Forum on the theme, “Strengthening Democratic Processes: Ghana’s Preparedness for Free, Fair, and Transparent Elections.”
“I want to urge the media to be extra vigilante in mitigating information as it can lead to violence and undermine our quest as the beacon of democracy in Africa. Elections alone do not make a democracy but it is essential to it,” she stated.
The forum is ahead of Ghana’s most anticipated December 7 general elections, West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR), a regional broadcaster based in Dakar – Senegal, organised the event as a platform for discourse around the principles of democracy in the Ghanaian context.
This discussion took place under a joint project with the National Endowment for Democracy NED tagged Strengthening Democracy Through Media.
During the hybrid forum on October 2, 2024, speakers and participants, including civil society activists, legal and international relations experts, political scientists, academics, youth and women groups, representatives from political parties, the electoral commission and the media deliberated on the theme of the event.
“For WADR, as Ghana, considered one of Africa’s most stable and flourishing democracies goes to the polls on December 7, 2024, holding this forum is timely and important as observers acknowledge a sharp back sliding of democratic practices such as human rights violations, media suppression and censorship, disregard for laws, electoral disputes, contested constitutional amendments, and undemocratic change of government amongst many others.
“With Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea under military rule, reports of attempted coups in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, twice in Guinea Bissau and recently in Benin democracy continues to be challenged in the subregion,” a statement from the WADR said.
According to Agnes John-Thomasi, WADR’s Station Director, “The mission of the project is to have ECOWAS member states uphold democracy, and once again, become a region that commands respect, remains relevant and embodies resilience amid the growing adversities.”
Compelling this change, according to her, entails promoting a participatory and inclusive society, exemplifying good governance including but not limited to elections, democratic deliverables, respect and protection of human rights, equality as well as press freedom among others.
It should be noted that the West Africa Democracy Radio and National Endowment for Democracy project aims to promote democracy and its principles across the subregion, essentially highlighting Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau through the broadcast of the radio’s flagship governance program ‘CITIZENS HOUR’.
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