UCC introduces course for political communicators
The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has introduced a new course in the Communication Department to train political communicators to help political institutions and actors in the country to better convey their messages.
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According to the university, the programme, Political Communication, the first of its kind to be introduced as a course in an educational institution in the country, is in recognition of the fact that political communication is an important tool and its use should be guided by laid-down principles and ethics of public deliberation.
In an interview, the lecturer in Political Communication and Presidential Rhetoric of the university, Dr Eric Opoku-Mensah, explained that the programme was put in place to also sanitise public debates within the political environment in the country.
Trained communicators
He said there was the urgent need for more communicators, especially political communicators, to be trained to change the face of political discourse in the country.
Explaining further, Dr Opoku-Mensah said the course entailed argumentation and persuasion within the public space.
“Public argumentation is an ingredient of democracy; therefore there is an absence of this ingredient within an autocratic environment.
“So, in every society where democracy operates, the nature of argumentation and persuasion within the public space should be guided and guarded by the ethics of public deliberation and this is the crux of the subject matter,” he said.
He said any democratic environment which was not guided by civility of argumentation could descend into chaos and that was why the university had decided that such a programme could be mounted to bridge the gap and sanitise the political discourse in the country.
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Communication experts
Dr Opoku-Mensah, a product of the Centre for Rhetoric Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa, believes that the time has come for politicians and political institutions to hire qualified political communicators to enhance their political fortunes.
He said that was particularly important as the country was heading to another election next year during which there would be lots of political discourse.