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Social Commentator and Governance Analyst, Mr. George Akom has addressed that the present circumstances of our governance and political activities mediated by various communication media and network platforms are taking a different dimension because of the emerging situation where citizenship participation in governance and political activism are on the ascendency.
He buttressed up that the era where many citizens stayed aloof of governance and political activities were becoming a thing of the past, because many had started feeling the impact of the performances of governance either positively or negatively on the society.
He iterated that the realities of situations in our lives have exposed many to understand the relevance of good governance and its positive impacts on the people of the country.
The dynamics of political campaign and promises take different forms to woo citizens to vote for political parties during general elections.
He mentioned, that this present time where political campaign promises have become numerous and have turned to become what he described as ‘campaign overload’ from the various political quarters, it would require citizens’ in-depth understanding of government policies and interventions, and the tenets of realties to be convinced about which government had made positive impact on the citizens and the development of the nation at large.
“As the country Ghana moves to advanced, and more civilized and modernized form, many voters would make voting decisions based on policy direction leading into reality of governance, not on mere pettiness, rhetoric, unrealistic and over ambitious promises, and politics of equalization”, Mr. Akom indicated.
He added that any political party with its manifesto to convince and win power for the coming elections would require a very good strategy that could bring to the fore the party’s performance and the impact to be made in the lives of citizens and national development.
He averred that any political manifesto to stand test of time and to be in good taste at this time of our governance and political discourse to convince electorates should be guided by what he described as ‘SWOT Analysis’.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, a study undertaken by an organization to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.
Strengths are things that a political party does particularly well which in a way distinguish that party from others. Weaknesses are what the party may see to have been done better or could be improved upon if they are given the chance.
Opportunities are things a party intends to do in future and might have the resources and the will power to do which require an eye to what might happen in the future.
Threats are things that political party opponents could capitalize on to overcome policies, interventions, and many other loopholes in the party’s government.
He stressed that party incumbency plays a little role in winning power if the performance of the government is not well felt positively by electorates.
He continued that each party going into any election stands at the same disadvantage until proven to have competitive advantage over others by the party’s policies, programmes and interventions that had benefitted the masses and how these are articulated and projected to ordinary citizen.
Mr. George Akom, who is also an Assistant Registrar of the Ghana Communication Technology University, opined that political parties should set mass-benefit, achievable and realistic campaign promises which their implementation would not be stifled by laws and economic shocks.
Source: Broadcastergh.com/Ayisah Foster
