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| Mr. Mustapha Sanah, Exec. Chairman, NORGAID |
If there is any battle that Northerners (residents
of Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions) must expend their energies on,
it should be the fight against poverty, ignorance and deprivation, and not war
over lands, cultural superiority and other narrow excuses for killing one
another; Executive Chairman of Northern Ghana Aid has said.
The war for
superiority over one ethnic group against one another, he said should not be Northerners’
priority. “Let us rather ask why Northerners bear the brunt of the struggle for
political power but are often relegated to the background when we (Northerners)
succeed to help the major political powers- New Patriotic Party (NPP) and
National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be elected into office?”
Speaking at a
day’s workshop organized by NORGAID for communicators of political parties and
editors of radio stations in Tamale, Mustapha Sanah, said it is because
Northerners were not branding themselves well. “We have the highest illiteracy
rate, we are too careless about opportunities given to us to help our kith and
kin and go to war among ourselves too soon and too often without the right of
reasons”, he observed.
According to Mr.
Sanah, the irony of the situation was that people Northerners fight for to win
political authority often turn their backs on them and some even called them
names. “We should therefore resolve now that we are going to be important
stakeholders in the election of leaders of this country in the December 7
General Elections in a peaceful, violent-free, credible and democratic manner.
We should, with one voice, ask our chosen political heads to respond to our
needs and demands for socio-economic development. Through this responsible use
of our political strength we are serving notice to the rest of the country that
we are no longer interested in being ‘the drawers of water and hewers of wood’
and it is time we set in motion the right atmosphere to bring our Kayayee
sisters back home. There is dignity in working in a good and secure environment
at home. Let’s create it”, he preached.
The Executive
Chairman of NORGAID appealed to Northerners to replace their political
zealousness and fanaticism with conscious study of the political manifestoes of
the various political parties and exercise their franchise for the party that
was ready to meet their development expectations. “Let us therefore turn the
numerous political party pavilions and sheds, which are fertile grounds for
political disputes and violence in our region, and where we readily vilify our
political leaders, into a place for demanding accountable stewardship and
equitable development.”
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| Group of Northern Chiefs |
The workshop was
aimed at equipping Regional Youth Organisers and Communication Team Members of
NDC, NPP, Progressive People’s Party, People’s National Convention and the
Convention People’s Party as well as Editors of Radio Stations in the Northern
Region with good communication skills.
It was intended
to ensure that from now onwards editors and political communicators used the
most appropriate or refined language to communicate to their target audiences
for sustainable democracy.
The organizers
were optimistic that it would impact positively on their campaigns and rallies
and eliminate intemperate and vulgar language as well as negative incidents
that were likely to bring violent conflicts and instability in the region.
The workshop
also, was part of the organisation’s Northern Region 2012 Multi-Party
Democratic Governance Support Project, a STAR-Ghana funded project aimed at
ensuring that all political parties adhere to the Political Parties Code of
Conduct for 2012.
Aside training
editors of radio stations and communication team members of political parties
on good communication skills, the project would also send observers to monitor
campaigns and rallies in 15 constituencies and submit a weekly report to a
Council.
The Council would
analyse the reports, critique the remarks/comments and put it in the public
domain through radio and a newsletter. The critique would serve as a form of
feedback to political activists on their comments/remarks from which they could
draw lessons from.
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| Symbols of various political parties in Ghana |
Mr. Abdallah
Kassim, Executive Director of Rural Media Network and a facilitator at the
workshop, called on political commentators to debate their opponents on issues
devoid of insults and names calling.
He also
encouraged them to take critical look at local issues or problems affecting the
people in the North in general and use the radio as the fastest means of communication
to sell to voters what is in their party’s manifesto and how those issues would
be addressed if they were voted into office. “Stop listening to what your
leadership in Accra say on radio and television stations during newspaper
reviews and repeat the same thing in Tamale. Be innovative, because the
characteristics of the voters in Accra or Kumasi are different from those in
Tamale and elsewhere”, he advised.
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