Former National Youth Organizer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Salam Mustapha, has raised concerns over equating hard work with social media posts.

He says that although he went all out in his role as Youth Organiser for the NPP, he was attacked from various quarters because his work was not shared via social media.

In a social media post responding to calls on party executives to reduce the amount of information they share online, he said although he believes not everything deserves to end up on social media, the NPP appreciates people who are loud about their work.

He cited himself as an example, pointing out things he did, especially in various institutions with TESCON, but failed to share them online.

Read his full post below:

My brother and friend, Hon. Ali Maiga, has raised concern that officers limit cameras on them and not put everything on social media. I have seen Richard Gyamfi also raise a similar concern, and indeed, many other patriots share that opinion.

I absolutely agree with them on this matter, that we limit putting everything on social media.

But I have mixed feelings, and I want to share an opinion. As already stated, it is a good call and in the right direction. Your opponent should not know everything you are doing.

However, we have a highly sensitive social media party. If you do not post what you are doing, you do not seem to be working. So, to show that they are working, officers have also resorted to posting on social media. For, if you do not post and you are being attacked for not working, no one will defend you.

Even those who saw you working would be quiet too. Some of us have suffered from such attacks. If that is the case, officers in an attempt to insulate themselves will put everything out.

Myself, my brothers Vyrus, Richard Gyamfi, George Kwarteng, and the team began the 2024 campaign as the youth campaign team. Our first outing was in February 2024 on the UCC campus. We had a full hall of students, and it was on that occasion that I responded to NDC General Secretary Fifi Kwetey’s attacks on DMB, which went viral. From the Central Region, we took off to the Upper West Region in March for 3 days and toured 7 out of 11 constituencies. In April, we were in the Ashanti Region; we toured 17 out of the 47 constituencies.

We planned the famous ‘Youth Connect’ and rolled it out for the presidential candidate’s first round in June. It became a hit, and the team was asked to continue for the second round in August to mobilize campuses, which we did. We introduced the Bawumia dance challenge to hold the crowd before the candidate arrived, and sometimes we could hold them for 4 hours and more until the candidate arrived.

Richard Dahtus Gyamfi would remember how he kept me alive in Jirapa. I had to crawl out of my room at 1 a.m. to his room next door to wake him up to deal with what I was going through, and he managed me till morning. I was reacting to something I ate earlier in the day, we believe. That was a terrible night.

All these are not on camera, stories we never shared. The amount of personal resources sunk, the deadly sacrifices. There are operations we did for national security that no one knows about.

In September, I decided to leave Richard and George working for the presidential candidate to continue, and I started Campus Invasion and Ghetto Invasion. I took my tours to other regions, Central Region, here in Greater Accra I toured 22 of the 34 constituencies, my own Northern Region, and Upper East Region.

Before this, I had done 3 major tours of the country under my National Youth Organiser working tour programmes and filed reports on issues on the ground. Reports that I still have copies of. I raised the critical issues from what I heard in the regions.

Most of the work is not on camera. How we held the student front for 3 years straight, winning most SRCs and bloc elections.

However, I have been attacked heavily post the 2024 elections. Even some who are well vexed and should appreciate how much work had been done also conveniently joined the attacks. Of course, it is the case when victory doesn’t come. I have taken these attacks into my bosom.

Even those who know the difference between being in power and in opposition also joined. No youth leader will be aggressive against his own government. Aggression is for opposition. In power, we seek opportunities for your people. That is why I am happy that many patriots got their jobs, scholarships, and other support through me.

Certainly, I could not have done it for everyone. Even God does not answer all prayers at the same time, and the system does not give everything to the youth leader to share. There are 10 other officers who people look up to as well, and a host of appointed national officers.

In the whole of our 8 years, there is no single contract in my name, nor board membership, even after I became youth leader. But that did not matter to me. All I needed was our win. I funded most part of my administration myself without crying out. Again, former appointees can testify that I never came to them to seek personal favors. I always asked for support for my youth organizers or other people or for programs. It was not because I had no needs of my own but I thought, it would be foolish to ask for personal resources and also for work at the same time. You have to choose one.

So, when someone who has not moved a kilometre before to work for the party sits on social media to attack you and write unsavoury things, that cuts deeply. We deny ourselves and our families so much to give to the party because we believe in the party and service.

Let me conclude: party officers, I believe, will stay off the cameras and stop putting everything on social media when they feel their work is appreciated. Having said this, party officers should be careful with the content they put out.

Not everything is for social media.