Media must set agenda for Election 2016
The political season is here and political parties and their leaders are criss-crossing the country, promising new things in the lives of the people.
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Some of the promises appear utopian, but as it is said, “those who do not plan, plan to fail”. So we ought to give our politicians the benefit of the doubt.
In some of the instances, we wonder where our politicians will mobilise the resources to implement their plans. Afterall, similar pledges were made in the past where the people were assured sugar and honey but were handed policies that compounded their hardships.
During periods like this, some Ghanaians are not surprised that politicians can promise to build bridges where no rivers exist.
But the electorate expect our politicians to base their promises on the facts on the ground. We know our economy is fragile, for which reason we want our politicians to promise what they can do.
In all these, the electorate can only make informed decisions when adequate information is made available to them. When they have adequate information from the media, they can separate the wheat from the chaff
It is in this vein that we pat ourselves on the back for organising town hall meetings for political parties across the country. The first in the series was organised in Bolgatanga last Wednesday for the three northern regions.
The Director of Newspapers of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, who spoke at the meeting, asked political parties, the Electoral Commission (EC) and other stakeholders to play their roles as expected of them to ensure peaceful elections.
The essence of the engagement being spearheaded by the GCGL is to get the political parties to speak to the issues that concern the well-being of the people.
Indeed, the GCGL wants to make this year’s elections issue-based, instead of the tendency among some politicians to attack personalities.
As a people, we know the challenges confronting our country. We know our economy is not doing well; we know that our youth do not have jobs, culminating in the formation of the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana.
There are challenges in the health and educational sectors. That is why those who want our mandate to govern must have answers to these challenges.
The GCGL urges other players in the media landscape to avoid the situation where they offer their platforms to politicians to engage in hate speeches, insults and other things that will not put food on the table for the people.
To be able to achieve one of these cardinal aims of setting agenda for society, journalists must not allow politicians to win power on their own terms. Those who must be given the mandate on December 7 must be leaders who inspire hope in the future for all.
We wish the elections would be strictly issue-based, touching on the concerns of the people. Thus the media must resolve to set the agenda for the politicians during the electioneering.