Rumours or smear campaigns have gradually become ingrained in the general body politic associated with campaigns in democratic countries. Seen as unfortunate and childish in some quarters, it is something that we must begin to accept as part of the political game. As is the case in many parts of the world, the media plays a huge role in fueling such rumours; this is what is unfolding in Ghana at the moment. The role of the media in fuelling the spread of rumours as is being seen in the current political campaign going on cannot be underestimated.
Rumours by definition and as applied in this case are stories that are usually made up by people especially for political purposes to make an opponent less credible; this is to make themselves the better option (to be voted for) because they are more credible than their opponent. The difficulty with rumours, though, is that sometimes they are true and only time will prove this.
This was the case here (in the U.S.) in the recent elections when smear campaigns gained currency even days before the elections; around this time, the various political strategists went into full gear appearing on different political platforms and using all media available to them to debunk any rumours that went to town. Before I look at some of the rumours making the rounds in the on-going political campaign in Ghana, let me draw your attention to some of the rumours that ‘afflicted’ the two presidential candidates who contested in the 2008 American elections.
John McCain:
* Brainwashed and psychologically damaged as a prisoner of war in Vietnam
* He is senile
* He fathered a black child (McCain’s 17-year-old daughter Bridget was adopted from a Bangladesh orphanage)
* Cast a taboo slur at his wife, Cindy in 1992.
* Crashed as many as five planes, one that killed 134 sailors due to an alleged risky manoeuver.
* Behaved extremely badly on a holiday to Fiji when he insulted vacationers forcing them to listen to him read aloud the writings of William Faulkner.
* His military record is not what it appears to be.
Barack Obama:
* His Kenyan grandmother stated in a tape recording the candidate's birth in a Kenyan hospital giving cause for concerns about his citizenship.
* He is a Muslim in secret
* He is the anti-Christ described in the Book of Revelation in the bible
* He refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or display the American flag.
* His wife, Michelle, used racial slurs against white people by using the word "whitey."
* Campaigned for Kenya’s opposition leader in Raila Odinga and funneled money to his campaign and that they are cousins.
* Conspiring with Odinga to enforce Islamic law in Kenya despite both men being Christians.
The Ghanaian version of this political game is what we are experiencing in these last days leading to the December 28 run-off; as though someone has blown a whistle in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) camps, we wake up every morning to new party-sanctioned rumours and allegations meant to discredit either party, through which activity one party will appear more credible..
I am sure that by now the list (of allegations) is endless and, I hope, readers will add up to what I have compiled from news reports and radio discussions. The list captured under a party does not mean the party is the generator of the rumour but that is what is being told about the particular party.
The NPP
* Supporter drenched clothes in blood (of animals) at an abattoir and took pictures that suggested that NDC stalwarts attacked him
* Plans to make the Okyehene more popular than the Asantehene
* EC officials wore caps laced with ink and contributed to destroying ballots in NPP strongholds
* Government has ‘pregnant’ bank accounts at the Prudential Bank
* Akufo-Addo is a drug addict
* Akufo-Addo is not the father of his children
* Akufo-Addo cannot speak clearly because of fears that his dentures (false teeth) will fall out
* Akufo-Addo is a womanizer
The NDC
o Has developed a growing hit-list using a mafia-like team of assassins
o EC officials used hair-dye and tainted ballot papers
o NPP plans to put Rawlings under house arrest
o Will expand the Nsawam prison to create more room for NPP government officials
o Will scrap the National Health Insurance Scheme
o CPP officials in the Northern Region who fail to endorse the NDC will have their houses burnt and property destroyed
o Prof. Mills is an irresponsible father
o Prof. Mills is not his own man
o Winning elections means third unofficial term for Former President Jerry John Rawlings.
These political rumours have completely taken over the issues-based campaigns that we were promised. No more talk of poverty, employment, health, water, electricity, food security and all that Ghanaians are saddled with currently. Believe it or not that some people (with the literacy rate that we have in Ghana) will end up believing some of these rumours especially as the campaigns are getting to their climax.
As Ghanaians wait to make a final decision come December 28, it is important for the political parties to be reminded of the observation by the late American President, John Kennedy, that the effectiveness of a political campaign in knocking down rumours and smear campaigns is not an unfair test of that campaign’s candidacy.
For now I eagerly wait to see which of the two candidates will join self-declared CPP presidential candidate for 2012, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who is hoping for a comeback in that year. What about an opinion poll dubbed Rumour Mongering 2012? Time will tell which of these rumours unfolds as truth.
When a President loses honour, shoes fly about.
Politics is interesting. It has its own way of making and unmaking people. Historically there are many examples of how people came into the limelight after gaining political power and later lost everything when they fell out with their people. It is more painful when such people completely lose their honour and integrity.
These people become a perfect embodiment of the Biblical expression that a prophet is without honour in his own home but with a different dimension- this one is self-inflicted.
I find it difficult to appreciate how people can fall so low. What happened to these fine personalities is a question that keeps haunting me.
This, for me, is how the American presidency of President George Walker Bush can be described. In his own country his rating has dipped to an historical low. No one respects the president in this country and it is a pity to hear words that are used to describe him. Maybe that is just the American style- they are very blunt and will never garnish their words if they do not believe it is a true reflection of their thoughts.
The climax of this sad ending of the president was what happened in Iraq on Sunday. President Bush paid a secret farewell visit to Iraq and finished reviewing a military parade. Together with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki they went to address a news conference after the parade and that was where the drama occurred.
“This is a farewell kiss, you dog” was the statement spoken in Arabic that preceded a pair of shoes flung at President Bush which missed him narrowly. The shoes came from the feet of an Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zeidi who is a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.
In his humouristic self Bush sought to downplay the issue by saying that the shoes were a size 10. That is how much of an extent a journalist could go to express his dissatisfaction with a president whose farewell visit was also to tell the Iraqis that the war was not over and that it was on its way to be decisively won.
Call it a repetition of history. Do you remember how in 2003 American marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein while Iraqis expressed their cultural interpretation of contempt by stamping at the statue with their shoes? In this instance it was not even done to a statue but a sitting president.
With a little over a month left for him to leave office President Bush has become the paper napkin with which people blow their noses. This is a sad depiction of what people can do to themselves.
One can rightly argue this away that he was not popular in the first place when he was elected. True but I am not sure hatred for him was so bad and as he rightly stated after the incident that it was a reflection of the current political situation in his United States.
At this point I want to believe that if there was anything that he will be hoping to do, it will be to hand over to President-Elect Obama and disappear from the minds of Americans.
For the moment the name Bush has become an adjective describing anything negative and unworthy of pursuit like a “Bush policy” or a “Bush programme”. Too bad how a man loses his honour, I only hope those size 10 shoes make it to the famous American Smithsonian museums. I will definitely love to see it for it is worth a ten-page story.
'Abrokyire’ Palaver: Journalism 101
This week marks a very important one for all Ghanaians as we go to the polls at the weekend to elect our president and legislators. A lot has been said and done in the political campaign period just as a lot has gone under the stroke of the pen and the tongue as journalists contribute to our democratic experience.
After all that we have said and debated on the airwaves and in our newspapers this is one week where all journalists would have to go back to Journalism 101 and learn about responsible journalism.
What went down as an apology of journalism culminating in the situation which we all now refer to as the Rwandan genocide is still too fresh to be pushed under the carpet. One radio station’s irresponsibility and its fire-spitting remarks resulted in the death of hundreds of people.
Interestingly I am among the optimists who believe that Ghana is never going to get to that situation but then I also find a lot of wisdom in what our elders say that “when you find your friend’s beard on fire you better put water near yours”. Situations that have happened in other countries are all reminders of what our irresponsibility as journalists can lead to.
Agreeably, it is far-fetched to attribute the outbreak of hostilities especially in elections to the work of the media as research shows but it there is abundance of evidence to show that journalists contribute largely to such situations and so are equally liable for allowing themselves to serve as propagandists and hate messengers of a few selfish politicians who are all too ready and willing to sell their kith and kin for a tin of sardine.
It is in the light of this that I recommend the Ghana Journalists Association for taking steps to educate journalists on what is expected of us in this elections but that point unfortunately also marks my point of departure with my very respected and knowledgeable senior colleague Yaw Boadu Ayeeboafo who was reported as encouraging journalists to ensure equal coverage for all political parties. I am hoping that that was not the thrust of his intervention.
The issue of equality is important but with a week to the elections, this is not the time to advocate for equity. What journalists need is for you to tell them to act responsibly and stop ‘talking by heart’ when the people entrust them with their ears and eyes.
Some of us are just irresponsible and only think of what we can do to promote a candidate who will win and shower us with more favors and more ‘soli’. Sometimes I simply shudder at the thought of how journalism is being redefined by certain practitioners who see any calls for responsible journalism as an attempt to gag them.
I believe that one can make a point without the unnecessary emotional outbursts that follow and add up to an already tensed political situation. As journalists we need to admit that we are human beings who sometimes get things wrong so that instead of fighting to justify our positions, let us lend ourselves to learning the right thing from the right people and infest our audiences with a sense of responsibility in word and deed.
We are all too quick to point at the international media and accuse them of putting out a negative image about Africa, of which we as Ghanaians are an integral part. True, but what are we also doing as journalists to challenge those perceptions put out there when all we spend our time doing is bickering and spewing hate messages and fighting for political favors.
To all those journalists who have kept the standards of responsible journalism high, I cannot but express my admiration for your work and for the rotten eggs among the lot please spare the country in this critical period. We have done it before and we can do it again, let the world see what Ghanaian journalists are capable of achieving in these elections.
As we keep our fingers crossed and pray for a successful election 2008 I am reminded of an article I read in a journal by an African nun in Ireland who in expressing her outrage about the negative image of Africa painted by the western media was told by her friend, “if there is another Africa then let us see it” and I know that Ghana will show the world that there is another Africa which is capable of conducting peaceful elections that are free, fair and smooth.
Dot Asare-Kumah [dortt4u@yahoo.com]
After all that we have said and debated on the airwaves and in our newspapers this is one week where all journalists would have to go back to Journalism 101 and learn about responsible journalism.
What went down as an apology of journalism culminating in the situation which we all now refer to as the Rwandan genocide is still too fresh to be pushed under the carpet. One radio station’s irresponsibility and its fire-spitting remarks resulted in the death of hundreds of people.
Interestingly I am among the optimists who believe that Ghana is never going to get to that situation but then I also find a lot of wisdom in what our elders say that “when you find your friend’s beard on fire you better put water near yours”. Situations that have happened in other countries are all reminders of what our irresponsibility as journalists can lead to.
Agreeably, it is far-fetched to attribute the outbreak of hostilities especially in elections to the work of the media as research shows but it there is abundance of evidence to show that journalists contribute largely to such situations and so are equally liable for allowing themselves to serve as propagandists and hate messengers of a few selfish politicians who are all too ready and willing to sell their kith and kin for a tin of sardine.
It is in the light of this that I recommend the Ghana Journalists Association for taking steps to educate journalists on what is expected of us in this elections but that point unfortunately also marks my point of departure with my very respected and knowledgeable senior colleague Yaw Boadu Ayeeboafo who was reported as encouraging journalists to ensure equal coverage for all political parties. I am hoping that that was not the thrust of his intervention.
The issue of equality is important but with a week to the elections, this is not the time to advocate for equity. What journalists need is for you to tell them to act responsibly and stop ‘talking by heart’ when the people entrust them with their ears and eyes.
Some of us are just irresponsible and only think of what we can do to promote a candidate who will win and shower us with more favors and more ‘soli’. Sometimes I simply shudder at the thought of how journalism is being redefined by certain practitioners who see any calls for responsible journalism as an attempt to gag them.
I believe that one can make a point without the unnecessary emotional outbursts that follow and add up to an already tensed political situation. As journalists we need to admit that we are human beings who sometimes get things wrong so that instead of fighting to justify our positions, let us lend ourselves to learning the right thing from the right people and infest our audiences with a sense of responsibility in word and deed.
We are all too quick to point at the international media and accuse them of putting out a negative image about Africa, of which we as Ghanaians are an integral part. True, but what are we also doing as journalists to challenge those perceptions put out there when all we spend our time doing is bickering and spewing hate messages and fighting for political favors.
To all those journalists who have kept the standards of responsible journalism high, I cannot but express my admiration for your work and for the rotten eggs among the lot please spare the country in this critical period. We have done it before and we can do it again, let the world see what Ghanaian journalists are capable of achieving in these elections.
As we keep our fingers crossed and pray for a successful election 2008 I am reminded of an article I read in a journal by an African nun in Ireland who in expressing her outrage about the negative image of Africa painted by the western media was told by her friend, “if there is another Africa then let us see it” and I know that Ghana will show the world that there is another Africa which is capable of conducting peaceful elections that are free, fair and smooth.
Dot Asare-Kumah [dortt4u@yahoo.com]
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