SIGNIFICANCE OF 2020 GENERAL ELECTIONS

 

 

 

UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES

 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

 

MPHIL SOCIAL CHANGE COMMUNICATION

 

STUDENT NAME: BABA MOHAMMED KAMIL

 

STUDENT IDENTITY:  UDS/MCC/0005/22

 

COURCE: MSC 532: MEDIA AND JOURNALISM TODAY

 

 

PROJECT TITTLE: REFLECTION ON 2020 PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF 2020 GENERAL ELECTIONS

In February 2019, former president John Dramani was re-elected as the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). In December 2019, incumbent president Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo also announced his desire to seek re-election on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). Both candidates received endorsements from the rank and file of their party to contest the 2020 general elections.

The two major contestants subsequently elected their running mates. While President Nana Addo elected Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia, the economist, as his running mate, his closest contender, John Dramani Mahama, elected Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyeman as his running mate. Many women activists lauded John Mahama for appointing a woman to the highest position in decision-making.

Positive Impact 

Like any other election since the inception of democratic rule, the media has played an instrumental role in its coverage, and the 2020 general elections were no exception.

Election Coverage: Prior to the elections, the state-owned media as well as some private media outlets assigned reporters to cover both the presidential candidates and their running mates. This was done to ensure that no candidate was disadvantaged in terms of media publicity. The media also provided an avenue for
all political party aspirants to present their vision and, by extension, their manifestos to the electorate should they be given the chance to govern. On election day, almost all the media houses deployed reporters across all 275 constituencies to cover the elections. Minutes by minutes’ updates were transmitted onto the newsroom portals for display. Most security agencies depended on media reports to respond to election violence in most of the hotspots across the country. This was a significant millstone as far as the media coverage of the elections was concerned. So the media played a monumental role in the coverage of the 2020 general elections.

Negative Impact: 

One of the setbacks that actually casted a negative slur on the media in the 2020 elections was setting up a coalition that set aside the constitutionally mandated institution, the electoral commission. By law, the electoral commission is solely mandated to collate and declare election results. This was evident when some media houses announced the NPP winner, and their declared figures contradicted those of the Electoral Commission. No media house should be allowed to announce any results ahead of the constitutionally mandated body, the electoral commission. This act, if allowed to continue, has the tendency to plunge Ghana into chaos in the future.

In the parliamentary seat, both the NPP and the NDC secured 137 seats each with an independent candidate. The outcome of the 2020 general elections also produced a speaker of parliament from the opposition party. This in itself brought about serious emotions in the political landscape of Ghana.

On the night of December 7, 2020, as we (the media) waited anxiously for the collation of both presidential and parliamentary elections, at the premises of the northern regional house of chiefs in Tamale, the NDC’s director of elections, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, organised a press conference in Accra and indicated that "presently, in the event that you comprehend discretionary governmental issues very well, you would understand that any place the parliamentary win, the presidential applicant likewise wins. So, it would be ridiculous for someone to state that despite this, they’ve won the political race. From the examination we have, John Dramani Mahama is doing over 30 percent in the Ashanti area, and in Greater Accra, we are doing 56 percent”. That comment was unfortunate because it was premature for any political party to claim victory. Collation was still ongoing when he organised that press conference to declare that the NDC had won the elections.

On December 7, 2020, at about 4:00 a.m., I was out there with my gadgets, moving from one polling station to another in the Tamale central constituency of the northern region, to report for Asaase Radio in Accra. The election was keenly contested, especially for the parliamentary seat. The contest was between former deputy trade minister in the erstwhile NDC administration, Murtala Mohammed, and former Chief Executive Officer of the Nation Builders Corps, Ibrahim Anyars Barhama. While Murtala stood for the NDC, his contender, Barhama, represented the NPP. At the end of the polls, counting started in various polling centres across the Tamale central constituency. At the Afa Abdul Karim polling station at Warizehi in Tamale central constituency, there were some chaotic scenes during the sorting of the ballots. An electorate thom-printed closer to one of the parliamentary candidates, Mutala Mohammed. But the NPP polling agent insisted that the ballot must be rejected since the intention of the electorate was not clear. This nearly turns bloody, but with the timely intervention of the security agencies, the electoral process would have been disrupted.

On December 9, 2020, the electoral commission headed by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah declared the presidential result. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, John Dramani Mahama, secured 47.873 percent, while the New Patriotic Party (NPP) also obtained 50.8 percent of the total valid votes cast. These results were vehemently rejected by the opposition leader, John Dramani Mahama. That was the genesis of the heightened emotions among supporters of the opposition NDC and the ruling NPP across the country.

Also in the parliamentary elections, the NDC had 137 seats, while the NPP also had 137 seats. But there was one independent candidate who promised to do business with the ruling NPP. The tie in Ghana’s legislative house also heightened emotions because, during the election of the speaker of parliament, Hon. Sumana Alban Bagbin, the whole event was characterised by violence. Some members of parliament got injured in the process. This was attributable to the tie in numbers between the majority and the minority in parliament.

Also on December 8, 2020, there was some chaos in Techiman South Constituency in the Bono East region. Reports indicated that about eight people were shot dead. In Savelugu constituency as well, one person was reported dead. These separate incidents heightened emotions and tensions, especially among the two major political parties. The NDC candidate, John Dramani Mahama, called for the arrest of those perpetrators who committed that dastardly act.

Over the years, Ghana has enjoyed media pluralism and, to some extent, independence of the media. But it is public knowledge that the media is polarized along political party lines, making it tedious to rely on or depend on the media for accurate and comprehensive reports, especially on elections. This can be blamed on the ownership structure of the media outlets. In short, politicians control almost all the giant media outlets in Ghana. But the state-owned media is tailored towards favouring the government in power.

ASPECT OF THE 2020 ELECTIONS WHERE THE MEDIA OVERLOOKED

The media overlooked and downplayed the aspect of churning out accurate figures. Elections and their entirety have to do with figures. Under no circumstances should the media get the wrong figures. For instance, the European Union Election Observer Mission reported that some media houses churned out wrong figures and later had to correct them. A typical example is that the media general reported 149 seats for the NPP, while the media group projected 139 for the NPP.

 

 

BIASES ON MEDIA COVERAGE

It is open knowledge that the media in Ghana is polarised along party lines. Prior to the 2020 general elections, the European Union Election Observer Mission report confirmed the long-held biases in Ghana’s media. The report indicated that the state-owned GTV allocated ample air time for the ruling, thus favouring the NPP over other opposition political parties.

Also among the private media houses, the report indicated that Adom FM and Joy FM of Multi Media Group favoured the opposition NDC, while UTV and Peace FM of Despite Media Group, Chronicle Newspaper, and Daily Guide newspaper favoured the NPP in their election coverage. The report identified that there are 33 NPP-affiliated media houses and 28 NDC-affiliated and five PPP-affiliated radio stations in Ghana. This singular observation by the EU observer mission indicates that Ghana’s media is biassed along political party lines. So, the media’s core mandate to educate and inform was missing before, during, and after the 2020 general elections. It was further evident that some media houses openly showed bias in their election coverage. And it was an indictment on the part of the media.

THE EMOTIONS

The emotions and tensions began to heighten before and after the general elections. In the northern region, for example, emotions fled in Savelugu constituency over the killing of one person on December 8, 2020. The situation became more tense when the two major political parties were at loggerheads over the election results at Kadia, one of the polling stations in the constituency. The then minority leader and Member of Parliament for Tamale South constituency, Haruna Iddrisu, led some NDC party executives to the constituency to defend the interests of the party. The ballot box in contention was policed by the northern regional police command for counting. Almost all the constituents of Savelugu, comprising the NDC and the NPP supporters, thronged into the northern regional police command. Tensions and emotions were high when the ballot box in contention arrived at the northern regional police command. The police had to fire several warning shots to disperse the angry supporters of the two major political parties.

At the national level,  the NDC also rejected the declaration made by the chairperson of the electoral commission, madam Jane Mensah. The NDC supporters thronged onto the streets of Accra, demanding the reversal of the election results so declared by the electoral commission. This further heightened the already-tensed atmosphere across the country.

The NDC as a party further indicated that the party will embark on a series of protests across the country to put pressure on the EC to reverse the declaration. The party brought their intended action to the northern region. The security agencies had it tough to police the teaming youth who poured onto the street of Tamale metropolis on a demonstration chanting. They were clad in red attire. The NDC youth burned car tyres on the streets, inconveniencing commuters in the central business district.

On December 22, 2020, the minority group in parliament, headed by the then minority leader in parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, marched to the electoral commission headquarters in Accra to present a petition to the electoral commission. They were stopped by the police. The situation became chaotic between the police and about 50 members of parliament. Some of the legislatures were mishandled by the police personnel who were deployed to the premises of the electoral commission.

During the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections, the media played a key role in the success of the crucial elections. Various media houses in Ghana couched names for the election monitoring. Names such as “Election Headquarters” by Joy News, “Election Nerve Centre” by Asaase Radio, “Election Command Centre” by Media General, and so on. However, some media houses with politically biased ideologies danced to the tune of their paymasters. TV3 Alfred Ocansey announced that “we can say for sure that based on breaking news coming through now, 149 for the NPP and 126 for the NDC in the parliamentary results coming through in all projections here on your “Election Command Center." However, that information turned out to be false. The Media General came back later to issue a statement saying that “our election coverage was not intended to favour any political party or candidate, and any contrary perception is deeply regretted. We take this opportunity to assure our audience and other stakeholders, including political parties, of our continued commitment to provide balanced and impartial reporting." This has attested to the fact that TV3 aired on their figures. The question many people were asking was, Why didn't they check and cross-check before coming public with the figures? Elections in this country are usually characterized by tensions, emotions, and violence. So, under no circumstances should the media house toil with figures. When the media get the figures wrong and put them in the public domain, the repercussions will be very serious. So in my future engagement with the media, I will exercise extra caution with whatever the media churns out because of my past experience. The primary ethics of journalism is to cross-check facts and figures before publication. So to the extent that the media overlooked this important ethic that guides the profession, it should be a cause for concern. So we will be circumspect in dealing with the media on sensitive matters such as elections in the future.