Politics

Ransford Gyampo: Leaders must communicate effectively

Associate Professor at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, has urged leaders and people in responsible positions to be mindful of their position and must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently.

He noted that such people should use more understandable expression in making their points clear so as not to create controversies and give room for misinterpretations.

“Former President John Dramani Mahama could have used a more understandable expression in making his point about the vigilance to be put up by his party in the 2024 elections at the polling stations and collation centres,” Prof. Gyampo stressed.

He explained that “because English is not the mother tongue of Ghanaians, it is important communication is made effective and efficiently by our leaders and those in responsible positions in order not to give room for misinterpretation.

This comes in the wake of former President Mahama’s comments that the 2024 elections will be a “do-or-die affair” for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), given events surrounding their defeat in the 2020 elections and ruled out ever going to the Supreme Court to settle disputes on election results.

His comments stirred controversy and misinterpretation with many calling on him to retract but he insisted he was only using an idiomatic expression whose meaning can be found in any dictionary and had stated nothing wrong.

According to Prof. Gyampo, “English is not our language, as professors, when we write our articles and send them abroad, they tell us we do not understand English Language so when we are speaking to people whose understanding or appreciation of the language is not so high, you must be mindful”.

However, he observed that any expressions which required further explanations meant there was no effective and efficient communication, adding that “you do not put out expressions for others to go and explain thereby misinterpreting them and stirring controversy.

“If you are a communicator, one of the principles of leadership is, leadership must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently and that means ability to say what you mean and mean what you and say in a manner devoid of ambiguities, controversies and misinterpretations,” Prof. Gyampo proffered.

Prof. Gyampo said former President Mahama could have used other expressions to make that same point without explaining. -3news.com

Show More
Back to top button