When Governance is reduced to Propaganda

By: Kwabena Amankwah

The ruling National Democratic Congress has so far convinced Ghanaians that it

believes in lies and half-truths – propaganda – as a tool of promoting its

political cause.

Indeed, when the NDC propaganda vehicle is on the road under the instruction of

the chief liar, both the driver and passengers do not care about any other road

user. The vehicle therefore hits its victims without the slightest consideration

of the harm done or the consequence of that atrocity.

It is only when the propagandists find themselves in a tight corner that they

realize the “ungodliness” and unwholesomeness of their actions. Here, they show

NDC’s version of “remorse” by admitting rather shamefully to the whole world

that they told lies and half-truths just in the name of politics.

I hope you have just recollected the episode involving Ama Benyiwa Doe when she

appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

Here was an elderly Christian woman who is supposed to be a role model to the

younger generation of Ghanaian ladies confessing rather shamefully before

Parliament in the full glare of the whole world that she did not mean what she

had been saying on various platforms and that “it was all political talk.”

God save our beloved country Ghana, especially now that we have Regional

Ministers such as Benyiwa Doe who could throw all scruples to the dogs and tell

the whole world that the then ruling party in her country “is cocaine party.”

Again in “setting the records straight”, Fiifi Kwetey could tell such a big lie,

and expect the good people to Ghana to believe, that the entire gold reserve of

the country had be “emptied” by the then ruling New Patriotic Party.

These were just but a few of the lies the NDC told the good people of Ghana

during the 2008 electioneering campaign as part of the diabolical scheme they

executed to return to the corridors of power after eight years in opposition.

Having employed despicable and vile propaganda to achieve their political

mission of winning the 2008 election, one would have expected that the attitude

of the specialist-liars would change, as they ride in the vehicle of governance.

But I am not at all surprised that they have not changed. In fact, doing so

would make the Almighty God a liar – His word makes it clear that the leopard

cannot change the spots on its body. Oh yes, a log in river cannot metamorphose

into a crocodile.

What surprises me a little bit, however, is the fact that even if the NDC cannot

change, can’t they also differentiate between governance and propaganda?

Certainly they can’t. Indeed, if they could they would not reduce governance to

propaganda as we are now witnessing in the country.

Under the 20-month old Mill-Mahama-led NDC administration, Ghanaians have

witnessed a very reckless and unfocused kind of governance which has left many

people in a state of hopelessness and helplessness, wondering about the kind of

direction the nation is going.

Here comes a big confession by NDC Founder, Jerry John Rawlings: “When I speak I

do not speak for myself. I speak for the suffering masses who, though not

expecting magic overnight, also see no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Ghana is now in a complete mess with no hope of seeing light at the end of

tunnel because people who have been appointed by the law professor to manage the

affairs of the nation have not yet settled down to govern; they are still

engaged in propaganda in an attempt to paint the NPP black to the electorate.

They do so forgetting that they are no longer in opposition.

The only tune Mills’ appointees sing on daily basis is “the NPP did this; the

NPP did that”. Even when workers are agitating for better conditions of service,

an action mainly triggered off by the harsh economic realities, they say it is

the NPP, forgetting the reminder they were given when they decided to go for the

IMF’s conditionality-infested financial aids.

Instead of taking his time to study the rationale behind the previous

government’s decision to enter the capital market to issue Eurobonds, and taking

steps to, may be, improve subsequent issues, the propagandist-deputy Finance

Minister, Fiifi Kwetey, thinks the interest of Ghanaians is better promoted if

he continues to engage in his vile propaganda at the Ministry of Finance and

Economic Planning.

That was why he could use a platform provided by Radio Gold to lie to the whole

world that the previous Kufuor government “squandered” the entire amount

realized from the issue of the Eurobonds.

This he said without worries about the fact that his claim made his boss,

Kwabena Duffuor, a liar, having presented a document to the IMF explaining

vividly the utilization of the amount realized. You see what propaganda can

sometimes do.

Even though he could claim there was a so-called criminal intent in the deal,

this propagandist-turned Minister of State could not explain why the “criminals”

involved had not been prosecuted. He could neither explain how the money was

squandered.

To him the issue was not even about investigating the “criminal deal” to bring

the culprits to book but it was all about putting the issue into the public

domain for all to see the “mess” created by the NPP. Is that governance or

propaganda?

Choosing radio to make allegations, as often done be serial callers, instead of

using your power as a minister to investigate how the money was squandered is a

confirmation of the fact that the affairs of the nation is being managed by

mediocre people.

And that is why everything appears not to be working in the country under the

Mills-Mahama administration. Let’s look at what is happening on the labour

front.

Instead of responding with pragmatic and clever plans to deal with the mess,

Ministers of State, such as Hannah Bissiw, think what Ghanaians want to hear is

“it is sabotage from NPP.” To Rojo Mettle-Nunu and his ilk, it takes insults and

abusive language to deal with such situations.

In fact, the attitude of many functionaries of the ruling NDC seem to suggest

that they are not even sure that they are now in government. They therefore

behave as if they are still in opposition, employing propaganda to convince the

electorate for their votes.

Many people in the country, including top NDC functionaries such as founder

Jerry Rawlings, complain incessantly that things have fallen apart in the

country at the moment. What is happening is the direct outcome of reducing

governance to propaganda.

No! No! What we are witnessing in the country now cannot be described as

governance; it is rather propaganda. And the earlier the NDC settled down to

govern, the better it would be for the future of the party and the nation at

large.

Kwabena Amankwah is a member of E/R NPP Communication Committee, member of NPP

Youth Wing Communication Committee and former TESCON-UCC Secretary.

amaskwabena@yahoo.com. 0244-217504