A government in need of communication training

Things had not been smooth for the ruling National Democratic Congress
government under President Mills. The government and the party are smarting from
sustained pressure from the opposition, resulting in a series of very bad press.
It’s been a bad week but also a test of the government and party’s strategies
for damage limitation.
It started with the discharge of two officials of the Kufour government (Kwadwo
Mpiani and C. Wereko-Brobbey) who had been charged for wilfully causing
financial loss to the state; then the tirade of a church leader who minced no
words in condemning the government. And just as I thought the government had the
chance to capture the news agenda and turn the heat on the opposition following
Reverend Asante Antwi’s comments, the NDC’s National Chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei
spoke in what the opposition again dictates as “spoken out of turn”. And all the
hostile press is in spite of the monumental progress made not just in the GDP
but in the “GROSS WELL BEING” (GWB) of Ghanaians.

I am very disheartened, not because of the desperate smear of the opposition New
Patriotic Party; No. I am disheartened because of the abysmal performance of the
government’s communications machinery - an unacceptable deficiency I have been
speaking loudly about since July 2009 - and the incapability of the
attorney-general to get her courtroom shenanigans right and deliver justice to
an expectant nation in cases of suspected economic crime and assassinations
committed in times of peace under the Kufour led government.
I am disheartened because the ruling government has had the NPP by the scruff of
its neck; and instead of squeezing its corrupt leaders so decisively that their
feet would not touch the ground, the government is pandering to unrealistic
political niceties, forgetting that we are in a political contest and that
millions of our compatriots who were let down by the NPP are praying that we
restored their trust in politics. When state resources are squandered on frills,
people want something done.

I am disheartened because a party that was rejected overwhelmingly less than two
years ago by Ghanaians is beginning to take the moral high ground thanks to
government’s inability to exploit its earlier opportunities and put its best
foot forward.

In fact, people were so repulsed by Mr. Kufour and his discredited appointees
that they would look for the sick bucket whenever they saw them or their agents
on television. I am appalled because President Mills has refused to put down his
political baggage – ministers who have brought nothing but pillory to the party
and government. The communications team has been next to useless since we took
office.

In less than two years, the NPP, a party that let down the fed up man in the
street; a party rejected by the electorates in spite of coercion, intimidation,
cover-up of high crimes against the people of Dagbon, is the one whose members
feel encouraged and embolden to question government instead of getting on their
knees and apologising to Ghanaians.

This is a party which disregarded article 40(a) of our constitution and promoted
their own interest instead of national interest as it sold off Ghana Telecom and
other state companies cheaply when they were required by law to promote and
protect the interest of the fed up man in the street.


As a card bearing member of the NDC, I am duty bound to give President Mills
every help and encouragement, but I get frustrated when the president has
refused my calls since last year that amongst other urgent things in his
in-tray, he needs razor sharp spokespersons who can not only articulate the
government’s successes but develop an early warning system – a media firewall
around the government that would detect and repel potential hostile coverage.

Guidance on how to avoid unsavoury publicity doesn’t come cheaply; there are
professionals out there, including sympathisers whose expertise could be tapped.

Good things are happening and the nation must be informed how much savings we
have made thanks to the prudent management of the economy; how much of the
deficit we have reduced and what we have done in order to avoid leaving a huge
deficit for tomorrow’s generation.

The sooner we are able engage political communicators who know how to capture
the news agenda, the sooner Ghanaians would support us in not just holding
corrupt NPP officials by their scruff, but support us making sure their feet
don’t touch the ground.

With a totally unpeaceful candidate like Akufo-Addo who has a predilection for
rhetoric and complaints, Ghanaians should feel good about the future and trust
the NDC to deliver all of its pre-election promises. The sooner we are able to
make changes at the communications outfit, the sooner the people would see the
future.

Ras Mubarak
mmubarak79@yahoo.com
RAS MUBARAK