Opinions of Sunday, 23 October 2016

Columnist: Andoh, Isaac Kyei

Mr President, forget about media cabal; teach your men how to communicate

Ghana president John Dramani Mahama Ghana president John Dramani Mahama

Mr President, do not blame the media, blame Kofi Adams and co for talking more about the opposition than the government in power.

So far, all they talk about is what the NPP cannot do and not what you have done. Every opportunity is used to attack Nana Addo and the NPP. How will your message get to the people when those supposed to deliver it serve something else?

What if Koku Anidoho dedicated the time to call Bawumiah that ‘mu trum’ thing which dominated the airwaves for the wrong reasons to talk about your achievement? An opposition party has nothing else to talk about apart from what they will do when given the opportunity and why the existing government is not the best way forward.

In view of this, they don’t lose much if they dedicate all their time attacking the government of the day and for that matter you because for an opposition, they have to make you look as bad as they think you and even sometimes as bad as you are not. In fact, you adopted the same approach in the past and that this is how politics is done all over the world. See Donald Trump for details

A desperate opposition is understandable because it is the nature of being in the wilderness of politics It is however absurd when government communicators assumes the same posture as that of the opposition; act and speak with the desperation of a hungry man.

The man in government should be relaxed, demonstrate dignity and focus on their achievements and the way forward. There should be effort to calm those losing patience down and also offer them hope of a better tomorrow in the most dignified way. This should be the body language of people in control of the state of affairs. An opposition doesn’t have much explanation to do as the government in power
Going into the elections, what the people of Ghana know as the issue of the campaign are Nana's one one programs. What about your so called unprecedented infrastructural development? How do you intend to build our economy if given a second term in office? Taxation is a big issue now and eating business up, (though you the cause) what will you do about it?
It is up to your communicators to tell Ghanaians these things and the Media will report it accordingly. If they use 10 minutes to talk about your achievements and dedicate 30 minutes to talk about the opposition and their candidate, expect us to tell Ghanaians more about the 30 minutes than the 10 minutes. Our job as reporters is to sell news and the more it appeals to the consumer and gives comfort to his itching ear the better

As journalists, we report what is said and what we find. Some people will go a step further to say what they think and this is acceptable in modern day journalism. We have not only become broadcasters, we advocate and fight the cause of the common man in Bogoso whose voice cannot be heard and whose opinion does not count unless it is 7th December of every leap year

Sir, you cannot complain about being given negative media attention or the lack of media publicity on what has been achieve over the past 8 and more importantly 4 years.

NDC has Radio Gold, Golf TV Muntie FM and countless community radio Stations that 'mandatorily' tunes in to Mugabe's controversial Pampaso program on Munties FM.
What is that platform used for: insulting eminent members of society talk Nana Addo Nana Addo all day.
How will your supposed transformational message get to the people? I am ardent listener of Okay FM and Peace FM's morning show. About 50% of the politicians interviewed on Okay FM are NDC. What do they talk about when given the platform? They attack Nana Addo and the NPP and why their programs are impossible.
How can your message get to the people when those you pay to speak dedicate the precious air time to talk about the opposition? The more you talk about a person, regardless of the content you make the person more famous Don't blame the Media, blame your own men

There are countless NDC Newspapers like the Daily Democrats, Enquirer, Daily Heritage, Daily Express, Insight and countless blogs. What is the focus of their publications? The ‘lies’ of the NPP instead of your truth.

Your Vice President Amissah is supposed to neutralize Bawumiah in the area of economics and let Ghanaian's know why your economic policies are superior to the NPP and respond to allegations made against your government's economic decision's but he dedicates his time to talk about short people and give one insult get one free
Mr President, don't blame the media, blame your men for failing to make you the focus of this elections but the NPP candidate and his programs

Your party has enough media backing to communicate the achievements and what you call transformational message to the people in every corner of the country without hustle. It is the shift in focus of your communicators that is harming your campaign.
The unnecessary comparison with the NPP will not wash either. As you said, Ghanaians are forgetful; in truth, a lot of happenings in 2008 and prior has been forgotten in the same way the 8 years of NDC under Rawlings was forgotten to pave another way for you and Prof Mills in 2008.
The same way the NPP’s attempt to remind Ghanaians of the atrocities of the PNDC coup foiled, so would any attempt to focus on what went wrong with Prez Kufour’s government.
You were voted to right the wrongs of the then government; your communicators’ duty is to tell Ghanaians how you have improved in those areas and why you are better. This is what your people should be talking about. It is their duty to convince Ghanaians on how your bias focus on infrastructural development will open the nation for unprecedented development in the coming years as you say repeatedly instead of how it is impossible to build one district in one village or why short men cannot lead this nation

The presidency is not about looks and stature. If it was about looks and stature, sir, you definitely won’t be my president as I write because there are millions of Ghanaians taller and more handsome than you. This is not a school prefect election in SHS where the fine boy is guaranteed two thirds of the girls vote: this is about the future of Ghana and it means much much more. By the way, your men appear very immature when they play that card- honestly. This is not a beauty pageant
The focus should be what you have done instead what the opposition cannot do because every serious person knows that with the political will, virtually everything is possible. Every country can do a China or a Malaysia with the political will.
Let them speak for you because the media won’t do that for you. We will report everything they say: the good, the bad and the ugly and ask question like: how much? Who funded it and so on? This is our job. If they say the one village one dam is not possible, we will tell Ghanaians NDC says one village one dam is not possible. If in the end One Village One Dam becomes the talk of town, please don’t blame us
The other thing is that the man whose life has been improved needs not be told that his life has improved, he has to feel it and see. If all that was captured in the Green Book has indeed been done and not artistic impression as alleged by the NPP, the people will see them and reciprocate.

If it takes time for the impact of your kind of development to be felt, explain to the people. When you have something to say, you don’t dedicate your time to speaking about another person.

Your government has so much explanation to do and yet your people deem it more important to talk about the opposition than the issues that needs clarification
You can say the NPP also talk about you 20 4 7. It is true and justified because you are the man who needs to be pulled down for another to ascend the throne. The man down doesn’t need to fall. Who else should opposition talk about apart from the government of the day?
Mr President, the truth is that you are surrounded by people whose primary focus is to big you up, make you feel swollen headed, call you names like the Nkrumah of our time and catch your attention because it seems to be the shortest way to getting an appointment

You don’t have many people focused on selling you to the people. You have people who think highlighting the problems in the NPP means more to the electorates than the hardship most Ghanaians are going through.

The other time, Amissah Authur compared NPP’s campaign to that of Donald Trump and I think it was quite irresponsible on his part. We will go to Trump begging in the unlikely event he wins the elections and the last person to make a derogatory remark about his campaign should the Vice President. It was unnecessary

You cannot blame any media house for undermining your campaign. You can’t get every media house on your side; what you have are enough for you to speak to the every one up North, down South and side and side without any difficulty.

The other time, he compared NPP’s campaign to that of Donald Trump and I think it was quite irresponsible on his part. We will go to Trump begging in the unlikely event he wins the elections and the last person expected to make a derogatory remark about his campaign should the Vice President. It was unnecessary

What your men need to do is to focus on you when given the platform and also speak to the serious issues that mean something to the electorate. If they focus on calling the opposition names and reply them in things that are not necessary, we will tell the world exactly what they said. If your veep responded to Bawumiah’s 170 allegations, we would have reported it.

You see, even when you accused us, we reported it. Please, don’t blame us, put your house in order and teach your men how to communicate. You are the expect
If they repackage the message, you will love us
Have a nice day Sir

Isaac Kyei Andoh
Isaackyeiandoh@yahoo.com