File photo
The experts argue that propagation of vile propaganda is an inherent characteristic of any political party that sprung out of a coup d’état.
Observers thus believe that since NDC was born out of a series of coup d’états, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for the party to have a propagandist mentality.
In a grand scheme of things, propaganda is defined in its most neutral and simple sense as “the persuasive dissemination of particular ideas or material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause (Oxford English Dictionary).
In other words, “propagandism” is the systematic propagation of a doctrine or information reflecting the views and interests of those propagating such information or doctrine.
The meaning of propaganda traces its roots to the “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”- a committee of Cardinals founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV to oversee the spread of Catholicism abroad, by any means necessary.
Consequently, the word propaganda came to mean the concerted effort to spread any belief Propagandists are associated with. Thus, propaganda is regarded as "a deliberate attempt to alter or maintain a balance of power that is advantageous to the propagandists."
The experts however argue that a message can be classified as propaganda if it “suggests something negative and dishonest”.
It is, indeed, quite bizarre that the NDC loyalists are still refusing to accept the fact that discerning Ghanaians are now well aware of their propagandistic gimmicks.
After all, what propagandistic stratagem didn’t the NDC vociferous communicators deploy during the 2016 electioneering campaign?
And yet discerning Ghanaians brushed their gimmicks aside and voted massively for Akufo-Addo and the NPP.
In fact, anyone who has a passing acquaintance with the abhorrent events which took place during the erstwhile Mahama administration will be extremely surprised to hear that the NDC faithful are accusing the incumbent NPP government of not doing enough to turn around Ghana’s economic fortunes.
The NDC faithful claim the economy is deteriorating under Akufo-Addo’s watch, while blatantly failing to acknowledge the fact that the economic growth in 2016 was 3.4%, and now stands at 8.6% (GSS).
Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks are extremely unhappy about the current inflation, which stands at around 9%, compared to 15.8% in 2016 (GSS).
The NDC loyalists are moaning inexorably about Cedi to Dollar exchange rate, which stands at about GH5.20 to $1 (BOG), while refusing to accept the fact that they took it from GH1.20 to $1 in 2009 (BOG), and left it at around 4.20 in 2016 (BOG).
Mahama and his teeming supporters are saying Akufo-Addo is insensitive when it comes to fuel prices, and ignoring the fact that in 2009, the NDC government inherited a gallon of petrol at around GH3.69 (Ghanabusinessnews.com/energypedia.info, 06/01/2009), and left it at around GH18.00 in January 2017 (See: Fuel prices increase by about 11%; cityfmonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 05/01/2017).
The opposition NDC operatives are complaining bitterly that Akufo-Addo is not doing anything about Ghana’s deplorable roads, meanwhile Akufo-Addo is prudently using Ghana’s bauxite in a barter deal worth around $2 billion with the Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering and construction outfit, Sinohydro, to construct roads across the country.
Mahama is claiming that Akufo-Addo is not doing enough to address the unemployment problem in the country, and yet the Akufo-Addo’s government has facilitated more than 181 factories, which are in various stages of completion across the country as part of the One District One Factory programme.
In addition, about one hundred thousand graduates have been given jobs under the pragmatic National Builders Corp (NABCO) scheme and thousands more, including nurses and teachers have been employed in the public service since the NPP government assuming office.
Mahama is insisting that the economy is not reflecting in Ghanaians pockets, but the Akufo-Addo’s government has taken pragmatic steps and restored the Nurses and Teachers Allowances which were regrettably cancelled by the erstwhile Mahama administration.
Mahama is saying Ghanaian parents are suffering in abject penury, and yet the Akufo-Addo’s government has judiciously distributed the national resources in the form of Free SHS, which paved way for more than 400,000 children a year, including the over 190,000 children who otherwise would not have the opportunity to enter senior high school.
The NDC brassbound loyalists are dismissing the benefits therein the Free SHS, and yet the Akufo-Addo’s government is spending a staggering amount of GH5532.83 over a period of three years on each student. In effect, parents with three children in SHS will be pocketing not less than GH16598.49 over three years.
Mahama and his supporters are bizarrely weeping uncontrollably for Ghanaian traders, many of whom are satisfied with the Akufo-Addo’s government for relieving them of over eighteen nuisance taxes which had hitherto crippled their businesses.
Mahama is saying the Akufo-Addo’s government has not done anything significant for prudently reducing benchmark values (30% on cars and 50% on goods) to the utter delight of Ghanaian traders.
Since the announcement of the reductions of benchmark values, some beneficiaries have attested to significant discounts.
Take, for example, credible sources have it that following the reductions, the duty on a Toyota Corolla saloon car has been reduced from GH22, 000 to GH15, 000.
Clearly, there is a considerable discount of GH7000. Isn’t this money going into a Ghanaian pocket?
We also heard another importer narrating how he previously paid GH14000 duty on a certain saloon car and only paid GH9500 after the announcement.
Dearest reader, is this individual not pocketing GH4500 because of good governance?
Obviously, the lives of Ghanaians are being transformed steadily through many pragmatic interventions, such as tax reductions (including import taxes), favourable economic growth, low inflation, gargantuan savings on free SHS, Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Export and Rural Development, Rearing for Food and Jobs, amongst others.
K. Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com
