Youth activist and entrepreneur, Nafis Quaye has bemoaned the overreliance on propaganda by political party aficionados as a major contributor to the unhealthy political discourse between parties in the country.
He maintained that “if care is not taken, the canker of propaganda as being used by opposition political parties, can tear this country apart and cause mayhem, hence causing division among the citizenry.
“Despite differences in political ideologies, politicians and party commentators must strive to elevate discussions and issues to reflect situations on the ground rather than always resorting to unverifiable lies in order to convince sympathisers,” Mr Quaye stressed.
Sharing his experience on the recent kidnapping incidence of the two Canadians, he lamented that the occurrence affected his business and indicated that “during that period, I was supposed to come to Ghana from the U.S, with 25 young American citizens who wanted to explore the business environment in Ghana.
“It was rather unfortunate that some politicians mainly from the opposition painted the country in bad light on the internet and most of these students, refused to embark on the trip upon reading those articles, only six students, who were bold enough traveled here,” he noted.
Another incident he mentioned, was the latest allegation that President Nana Akufo-Addo’s daughter, Ms Gyankroma Akufo-Addo, was contracted to airlift the Black Stars Supporters Union to Egypt for the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations and, as a result, bagged US$2.4 million.
Later, a statement from the Youth and Sports
Ministry, signed by the sector minister, Isaac Asiamah, denied the claim that
Ms Akufo-Addo was in charge of feeding and sheltering the 120 supporters, each
of whose travel expenses for the whole AFCON season amounted to US$20,000.
Mr Quaye insisted that “the claim has resulted in damages and dented the image of the first family as publications have gone wide on various social media platforms on the incident which was not true.
“Going forward, I believe we must learn to do things right, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) party communicators must be quick to respond to such an allegation and make sure it doesn’t attract global or national attention.
“Ghana doesn’t need propaganda at this stage of our national development and cohesion, what is needed is ideas and contributions that will elevate the national discourse and progress,” Mr Quaye pointed out.
BY TIMES REPORTER
