Fatimatu Abubakar
In my candid opinion, the Ministry of Information is the most important Ministry in any government. The Holy Bible says you don’t light a lamp and put it under your bed. This is the 4th time I am writing about the information outfit of the ruling NPP government and I hope this time around the soft ear of the woman now in charge of the Ministry of Information will listen to me, unlike his predecessor, Hon. Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah, who treated my admonitions with ordinary contempt.
Because greater number of the populace is not educated, organising press conferences in English Language to explain issues do not sink in. To such illiterate persons, “seeing is believing.”
The art of informing the populace is dynamic and so if you are not current you rather make things worse for the government. Gone were the days when we used gong gong and talking drums to send messages to the people. Times have changed and we must go along with changes or stay behind and suffer.
During the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Information Vans were used to criss cross the nooks and crannies of the country to inform people about projects and show cinemas of projects embarked by the CPP government. The population then was very small. Anytime such Information Vans came to our villages we made sure we did whatever we wanted to do in the evening quickly and rushed to where such cinemas were being screened. Even though we lived far away from the Volta Region, we were shown the construction of the Akossombo Dam and other grandeur projects being undertaken by the Osagyefo’s government. We always went home singing “Nkrumah Showboy” to praise the CPP government.
From the days of Dr. Nkrumah to Rawlings, we used to have only one TV station in this country, GTV. Today we have numerous TV stations operating in the country. In fact, in every home, one can count one or more television sets because electricity has been extended to the nooks and crannies of the country. I recommended to the then Minister of Information, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah to use the TV stations to showcase the many projects the government has done. Anytime I see asphalted road networks, railways, Agenda 111 hospital projects, One District, One Factory, school blocks, dormitory blocks, police apartments and many more on my smart phone and social media platforms, I feel like using unprintable words on the minister in charge of information. Can’t the ministry pay TV stations to showcase these projects for the people who have no access to smart phones or social media to see?
When the NDC built the Nkrumah Circle Interchange, they erected huge billboards depicting artist’s impression of the project in all districts and municipal capitals. They did same when they introduced the Marine Police. The NDC are smarter than the NPP when it comes to showcasing their projects. They even used their notorious Green Book to deceive Ghanaians in the run-up to the 2012 General Election.
Before people could realise that the pictures in the Green Book were phantom projects , the message had sunk in. If you sit on radio and talk about government projects, you are wasting your time. It will surprise you to know that even though the government has constructed interchange in Tamale, many people who live in the region, particularly those who live in the villages and seldom visit the regional capital have never seen it. If you flash the interchange on TV screens people will see and appreciate the efforts of the government.
Sometimes my heart breaks when I hear communicators of the NDC saying the government has not built even a single hospital under the Agenda 111 when we have one in my district which is near completion. I don’t blame them because NPP communicators in Accra and even in my district fail to propagate the good news. It is very sad.
Last week, I watched the handing over ceremony of essential earth – moving equipment at the Black Star Square in Accra on my smart phone. A comprehensive fleet of 2,240 pieces of equipment including graders, backhoes, tipper trucks, concrete mixers, water tanks, excavators and low beds were commissioned by the president under the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP).
When I told a friend who was not having smart phone, he said I was lying until I pulled out my phone and showed the equipment to him. When he saw it, this was what he said: “So this happened in Ghana?” You see, many people do not see the good things that continue to come our way since this government took over simply because they do not have the opportunity to see them.
Until a train crushed into a Kia truck which was packed on a Railway line in the Western Region recently, yours sincerely, never knew such a project was going on in Ghana. I was told soon these DRIP equipment will be distributed to all MMDAs, but the problem is that if the Ministry of Information fails to inform the beneficiary constituencies to showcase them by parading the equipment on the streets for people to see, the NDC Parliamentary Candidates will claim that they brought them to the constituency. In fact, the leadership of the NDC in Accra has started claiming that they were the first to introduce the programme. NDC? Fear them.
In my constituency, President Akufo-Addo promised to construct the town roads sometime ago when he paid a visit to the constituency. When the contractor moved to site and started the project, the NDC Member of Parliament took the constituency executive members and some supporters as well as the serial callers of the NDC to the site to show them that the roads were being constructed through his efforts.
The NPP PC had to bring the Minister of Roads and Highways to come down to set the records straight on the local FM station because the lies of the NDC MP sunk in and people started to praise him. It seems the NDC has an agenda to deliberately claim credit for projects executed by the NPP government. That is why their leader, John Mahama continues to shamelessly claim, that his government introduced the free SHS and the NHIS. It is a serious matter and the incumbent Minister of Information must take note and do something about the false claims, particularly since we are in an election year with the NDC trying desperately to clink on any straw to survive.
Madam Fatimatu Abubakar, the current Minister of Information has come at the right time. It is not too late for her to organise herself and go for the kill. Together with the National Research Officer of the party and his team, they should as a matter of urgency identify all projects constructed, under construction and commissioned. Such projects should be shown on many TV stations for the good people of Ghana to see.
I don’t see any difficulty in this. This should not be a nine – day wonder. It should be shown on daily basis for the people of Ghana to see and recognise the fact that the eight years of the Nana Akufo Addo regime is better than the Mills and Mahama regime of eight years misrule.
As I always say, the NDC apparatchiks are very good at propaganda because Rawlings sent their leadership to Communist countries like Russia, Libya, Cuba, Bulgaria etc to learn the art of propaganda. No wonder they had their Propaganda Secretaries like Fifi Kwetey who once said ex-President Kufuor sold all the gold reserve of the country only to eat the humble pie when he faced the vetting committee.
They are not ashamed of lying through their teeth. Imagine a whole educated person like Fifi Kwetey stooping so low! The sages say once bitten, twice shy. President Akufo-Addo sometime ago told us that his party’s communication team has disappointed him. This time around, Madam Fatimatu should prove the president wrong.
I know she is capable and up to the task. If she fails, it will stand to reason that she has disappointed womanhood. If you don’t blow your horn, nobody will blow it for you. Is Madam Fatimatu Abubakar, the vociferous Iron Lady reading this epistle? The ink in my fountain pen is finished.
By Eric Bawah