Season's greetings from @penplusbytes

 

 

A Social Media Tracking Centre (STMC) that will monitor the use of social media during Ghana's 2012 elections has been set up.

 

The centre will provide a real time response mechanism on election irregularities, violence and other concerns by reaching out to key election stakeholders for immediate action.

The aim is to monitor all social media platforms during the elections to afford civil society, state authorities and development partners the opportunity to know in real time public opinions, sentiments and attitudes relayed through different social media platforms in order for relevant actions to be taken.

The African Election Project, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and EnoughisEnough (EiE) with support from the United Kindom's Department for International Development (DFID) is Social Media Tracking Centre (STMC).

According to Mr. Michael Ohene-Effah, Governance Advisor at DFID, "Ghana DFID welcomes and supports this ground-breaking social media tracking centre initiative.

Although there are several media monitoring activities in the mainstream media surrounding Ghana's 2012 elections, there is currently only a handful and often inefficient manual tracking of elections trends taking place in the growing social media environment.

Social Media Tracking Centre (SMTC), comes at an opportune time, since there is ample evidence pointing to lack of efficient social media monitoring capability among key actors covering Ghana's 2012 elections.

Mr Jerry Sam, Project Manager of African Elections Project, explained that the real-time data capturing ability of the SMTC will allow for up-to-the moment incidents taking place in different areas around the country, to be collated, analysed and transmitted as alerts and to relevant elections stakeholders such  as the  National Elections Security Task Force (NESTF),  civil society actors, the media and Electoral Commission, among others for necessary action to be taken.

He said it was expected that monitoring social media powered by SMTC will provide valuable feedback and focus on how alerts coming out of the SMTC will serve as early warning mechanism thereby contributing significant  reduction of electoral violence while at the same time ensuring transparent and free elections.

Mr Sam said the African Elections Project was established in 2008, with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant election information and knowledge while undertaking monitoring of specific and important aspects of governance.

http://graphic.com.gh/Politics/centre-to-monitor-2012-elections-on-social-media.html

Ghana Elections 2012 : Door- to- door campaigning gains prominence in Ghana's growing democracy

 

In the run-up to Ghana's 2012 general election, leading political parties have gone fully for the door-to-door model of campaigning.

Unlike in the past when presidential candidates took to holding huge rallies, they are now criss-crossing the country, moving from community to community, and talking to individuals, and small groups in their homes, and community meetings.

This mode of selling campaign messages is a sharp departure from the previous practice of busing supporters to venues for huge rallies.

Since 1992 when the country returned to multi-party democracy, after 11 years of military rule, the major political parties - National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP), and the People's National Convention (PNC) – have resorted to staging massive rallies.

Former president Jerry John Rawlings is believed to have set the tone for such rallies in the 1992 and 1996 political campaigns for this process.

Rawlings, a charismatic military man who seized power on two previous occasions in a coup d'état, is the only president under the Fourth Republic to have won his first election without a run- off.

Although his critics attributed his electoral fortunes to his incumbency, they could not discount his charisma as playing a major part in his victories.

After his tenure, however, his choice successor, the late president Professor John Evans Atta Mills, failed to win the 2000 elections, losing in a run-off to then candidate John Agyekum Kufuor, in spite of the huge crowds that thronged the rally grounds of the NDC.

In the 2004 elections, Mills lost again to Kufuor whose NPP ran a second four-year term, till January 2009.

Rather than change Mills, the NDC renewed his candidacy in December 2006 to lead them for the third time in the general election.

Determined not to lose a third time, Mills in the run-up to the 2008 general election adopted the door-to-door campaign strategy.

As early as January 2007, Mills started his long journey to the presidency by visiting street corners, homes, communities and markets to sell himself and his campaign message of "I Care For You" to the electorate in all 10 regions of the country.

This tactics drew mockery from his main political opponents - the NPP - who thought it was an impossibility to walk round the country soliciting for votes, more so when it was an open secret that the NDC candidate was not in the best of health conditions.

However, in December 2008, Mills' strategy paid off. He led the NDC to win the elections, securing a slim majority in parliament before winning the presidency in a run-off.

As if to borrow a leaf from Mills in the 2012 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate of the opposition NPP, was the first to hit the road, walking in cities, towns and villages across the country selling his message to them while listening to their concerns.

This has been beefed up by rallies as the days draw near while still holding small group meetings with student groups and other identifiable groups.

The other parties, CPP, Progressive People's Party (PPP) of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, PNC candidate Hassan Ayariga, among others, have been using the same door-to-door method to campaign across the country.

"Politics is a game of numbers and a variety of methods are employed by politicians to woo the electorate. So the door-to-door campaign is important because not everybody leaves home to attend rallies organized by political parties," said Clement Apaak, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon.

He believed that since Ghana's 2012 election was expected to be tight, it was important for the parties to adopt the door-to- door campaign to establish a close rapport with people, a situation that is not possible at a big rally.

"It is an old campaign strategy which might even be older than the huge rally strategy and in this you are able to come into close contact with people at home, and speak to parents, children and other relatives," Apaak pointed out.

He believed that since people wanted to associate with others who shared in their values, and also discuss their concerns with them, the door-to-door campaign strategy was very important in political campaigns.

Sitting President John Dramani Hamama has not held a single regional rally, compared with his main opponent, Akufo-Addo, but rather chose smaller group meetings and smaller crowds in cities, towns and villages, where his daily campaigns last till about 4.00 a.m. on Dec 4.

His vigorous campaign style is well focused on the door-to-door strategy, a system he may have learned and adopted from his predecessor, late president Mills.

Project Consultant with the African Election Project (AEP), Kwami Ahiabenu, acknowledged the fact that door- to -door campaign gained prominence in Ghana during the campaigning for the 2008 elections with then candidate Mills.

"He worked to ensure there is a more personal interaction with electorate and this in a way contributed to the success of NDC at the polls," the consultant averred.

More importantly, Ahiabenu believes the parties are turning to door-to-door campaigns because "it is more cost effective, since you do not need big budgets for it," but conceded that it was time- consuming and needed more boots (foot-soldiers) on the ground.

"It is important to indicate that the Ghanaian voters are getting more discerning and therefore reaching out to them via door-to-door campaigns is proving to be a useful strategy," observed Ahaibenu.

According to Ahiabenu, though door-to-door campaign does not provide visibility which comes with big rallies, it is quite effective and efficient.

He cautioned however that this style of campaigning could not replace big rallies, saying: "You still need to hold rallies to galvanize supporters and show images of large followers.

"The door-to-door campaigns are not going to ever replace big rallies, but political parties for some time to come are going to deploy either big rallies or door-to-door for appropriate situations." End

 

source :     http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2012-12/06/content_27324888.htm

 

Ghana Elections 2012 : The C-Section of Mama Ghana and the ECs PR department

 

Just look at her! She is so gorgeous, Mama Ghana, that is! When she lays down to rest, she looks like a cat, asleep in foetal position. She doesn't look like a Mama that can hurt a fly! But in standing position, Mama Ghana looks stocky and robust as if she is about to squat. I urge you to spend some time to look closely at the map of Ghana. She looks really fascinating.

Ghana is shaped like someone who is spotting a little pot-belly from eating a combination of lots of fufu, garri, akple, banku. Or, she may just be pregnant with deep thoughts and unfulfilled dreams. Someday, Ghana will rise, stretching out its thickset body. Even now, she is the Black Star that shines! Wait till the day when she truly rises and stretches out her stout body mass.

But since last week Friday when voting began, we have heard the throbbingheartbeats of Mama Ghana. She is huffing and puffing. Clearly, this must be labour pains. Oh, she is having a caesarean section! Her doctor just cut through her protruding belly! See, a baby has been yanked out of her but the doctor has not done a good job with cleaning up after delivery. Hmm, it seems like she was all along pregnant with twins but the doctor, although has several years of experience, didn't feel the twins! So when the first baby arrived, the doctor gave him the usual bottom spanking; the baby shrieked, and viola, he was welcomed into the world.

Now, unfortunately, Mama Ghana seems to be experiencing some internal bleeding.The second yet unborn baby is breached! The doctor is trying to walk away from this sticky situation because the second baby is not coming out the normal way with head first, followed by the remainder of the body. Instead, it has one leg sticking out, struggling to pop out. The delivery has become more complicated than we can fathom. This is not good. It is unnatural to leave a baby unborn; it is deadly for mother and child! So the second baby cannot be left to die a pre-mature death inside Mama Ghana. So what is the doctor going to do about it? We have to wait and see. But why on earth didn't the doctor foresee a second baby despite the gargantuan pregnancy?

On a personal side, I can relate with Mama Ghana's experiences over labour complications, breech, C-Sections and the accompanying gargantuan unprecedented drama. Complicationsduring childbirth are not like a walk in the park. If such complications are not handled well, a death or deaths occur!

Of course baby number one is President John Mahama. Baby number two is Nana Akuffo-Addo. The doctor of course is Dr Afari-Gyan. Mahama has been delivered smoothly and the doctor thinks his work is done. But, not so fast! Ghana must resolve the Nana question. Whatever legal cases the NPP seeks to pursue should be done quickly so this heavy election cloud will be lifted off to enable ordinary Ghanaians to move on to the real issues: water, food, toilet, roads, housing and the likes.

The National Peace Council has been playing the role of the awkward mid-wife who hovers around the doctor trying to assist in ensuring a safe delivery. The Council has so far acted as a sage in the pre-election drama. But it must now watch the way it handles itself to avoid a

situation in which it loses credibility to remain the sage who can save Ghana out of this brewing post-election funk.

Where are all the elders of this town to take care of Mama Ghana with real tender loving care?

Love must ooze out of the elders. They must all put their heads together. Nothing must be left to chance. We must save Mama Ghana, the two babies and all their loved ones.

Unfortunately, there was a certain crude and unacceptable Third-Worldishness about this year's elections. It was as if the EC had never seen technology before so handled things as if it was strolling casually to a cocoyam farm. Even cocoyams would have been treated better than the EC treated Ghana. The lateness of the EC officials to several polling stations was not just

unacceptable but was disrespectful of the thousands of Ghanaians some of whom had congregated as early as dawn to cast their votes – old and young and even the very pregnant.

And, those annoying little machines had the audacity to reject anyone it felt like rejecting, without the decency to provide an explanation of some sort. The little monsters of verification

machines discriminated between families – it chose a husband but rudely rejected a wife while it verified a suckling minor who shouldn't have been registered as a voter in the first place. So a one day smooth election turned into a two-day voting torture. With that, the seed was sown for confusion laced with deception that disregards transparency.

Overhaul EC's PR Department:

Enters the Public Relations (PR) Department of the EC! In the 2008 elections, the PR Department was a big disappointment and performed below average. Strangely, the department

handles its work during elections in a business-as-usual manner although it is by now clear to us all that our elections fall within the realm of business-unusual. Our elections should be

exercises in crisis management. We must therefore operate from a posture of Murphy's Law – All that can go wrong, will – and not leave anything to chance.

It does not appear that rumour management is part of the ECs communication plan. In both 2008 and 2012, when rumours spilled over, the PR folks let them be, forgetting that factual

information is both a balm and a slayer of rumours. Last Saturday, when news broke of suspicions that STL might be doing something untoward at Dzorwulu that was casting doubts

over the credibility of the elections, the ECs PR people stayed mute much of the day, instead of responding promptly with explanations. They ignored Ghana just as they did in 2008.

It is troubling that part of the reason our country got on the brink of a melt-down in 2008 was due to poor communication planning and implementation. No communication in itself

communicates a great deal. The absence of communication can confuse, confirm suspicions and reinforce fears.

Long before Election 2016, the Electoral Commission must overhaul its PR outfit. Ghana should not continue to risk its life and survival to the inactivity of a lousy department whose

responsibility it is to communicate to the citizenry at critical moments during elections. To put it softly and gently, the PR Department of the EC is constipated.

A few enduring questions: Is the EC'sPR department technically and professionally well-equipped, as well as mentally well-suited and prepared to offer healthy communication to Ghana during general elections? No! The evidence does not suggest that.Why in the world has the head of the PR department worked in an acting capacity for such a long time? What is his level of expertise in the PR/Communication discipline? Would the EC place a non-IT person to head its IT department? There are more questions than answers.

Doris Dartey 

President Mahama wins Ghana Elections 2012

President John Dramani Mahama is the winner of the 2012 presidential election.

   The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan announced on Sunday night that he polled 5,574,761 votes (50.70%) while his closest contestant Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic (NPP) polled 5,248,898 votes (47.74%).

    The other results were:

    Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster of the Convention People's Party (CPP) - 20,323 (0.18%) 

Mr Hassan Ayariga of the People's National Convention (PNC) - 24,617 (0.22%)

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) - 64,362 (0.59%)

Dr Henry Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) - 38,223 (0.35%)

 Mr Joseph Osei-Yeboah (Independent) - 15,201 (0.14%)

Mr Akwasi Addai of the United Front Party (UFP) - 8,877 (0.08%).

The percentage turn out was 79.43

Total Registered voters were 14,158,890

Total votes cast were 11,246,982

Total Valid Votes -10,995,262

Total Rejected votes -251,720

Total constituencies – 275

GNA