I can affirm with complete certainty that the vast majority of the members of Mr Paul Afoko’s party will disagree with the definition of propaganda in this way.
I have personally heard Mr Afoko strenuously putting out this definition of propaganda several times in his radio interviews before and after his election as national chairman of the biggest opposition party in this country.
To his party members, at least those we hear now and again, propaganda is virtually a swear word used to describe every statement emanating from official, government and National Democratic Congress (NDC) party quarters. The word has come to stand for everything the NPP cannot abide in the NDC government. But here we are, with the national chairman holding a very different and contrary view of the meaning of this much-abused word in our politics.
Afoko and politics
Mr Afoko is not a mere pushover, or a greenhorn in our politics. For starters, he is the son of Mr Francis Afoko, still very much alive, who happened to be a Member of Parliament before and during the First Republic, that is over 60 years ago. The elder Afoko was actually a member of the Council of State during the time of President J.A. Kufuor. He had gone to the Legislative Assembly as an MP on the ticket of the defunct Northern Peoples’ Party(NPP) in the 1950s. This earlier NPP party, led by Simon Diedong Dombo, merged with others to form the United Party in 1957 to escape the strictures of the Avoidance of Discrimination Act of that year.
According to Paul Afoko, he was a leading activist of the Popular Front Party led by Victor Owusu in the Third Republic, and has been active in various ways since the December 31, 1981 coup that brought the PNDC under then Chairman Jerry John Rawlings into power. His definition of propaganda should, thus, be taken very seriously, as it emanates from a deep well of political experience and knowledge.
Meaning of propaganda
I chose to reflect on the meaning of propaganda as we observe an incessant series of activities of political discontent by clearly identified functionaries, activists and sympathisers of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) this week, starting with a demonstration last Wednesday, a symposium on corruption that very evening, and related activities. Leading members of the NPP, in the course of the week, unprovoked by their usual opponents in the NDC, have themselves confessed that these activities stem from their initiatives and direction, so it is not untrue to say that the leaders of these activities are at the very least, sympathisers in the cause of the NPP.
This brings us at once to the import of recent demonstrations and mass actions in this country, whether they can be assessed as part of propaganda geared towards the successful retail of a specific message; that this country is gone to the dogs, and the only hope of salvation is change of leadership. Never mind that none of these activists have deemed it fit to tell us exactly what they would do differently if they happen to be entrusted with the executive authority of Ghana as from today. These activists are perhaps playing the propaganda game of avoiding an answer to that pressing and necessary question because the truth is not as exciting and promotional of their aims as the mere recitation of their condemnations of President John Mahama.
Nobody in this country, or outside it, can restore continuous supply of electricity to us immediately because the over-arching reason of demand outstripping supply can never be resolved in any way apart from the current path of methodical increase in our energy production. Before you lock up corrupt officials, they must first be identified, investigated and given a fair trial, and so anybody who complains about the slow pace of activity in that direction must be wishing for the days of the public and military tribunals, a supporter of kangaroo justice, but the same people would be the first to condemn any such thinking as the best way to deal with corruption in this country.
Adamant oppostion
Just last week, I drew attention to the curious fact of Ghanaian political activists usually adamantly opposed to everything that President Rawlings stands for supporting his friend, the late Burkinabe leader Captain Thomas Sankara, because of current events in Burkina Faso. You cannot cut your nose to spite your face in politics, and expect us to enjoy, or endure the pain with you.
Two weeks ago, in this very paper, pictures were published of the alleged reconciliation between NPP General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong and a party activist, Hajia Fati, who had threatened to have the former killed because Kwabena did not support the bid of the flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, to lead the party into the 2016 elections!
Now this is the perfect example of the negative meaning of propaganda! My own mother cried for one week when Justice Agyepong, her classmate in Kumasi Methodist School, was abducted and murdered. The entire country has been soaked in the memory for three decades of this blot on our country, and a mere apology, rather than outright dismissal from the party, is what is supposed to palliate the conscience? Indeed, I violently disagreed with a leading party member who told me calmly when I expressed surprise, that this is perfectly in accordance with the contemptible Akan proverb to be ready to sell one’s mother for the sake of power. Of course, as a fellow Akan, I also calmly assured him that not all proverbs are necessary for the good life, and this is certainly one of the worst.
There may be a thin line between propaganda that skilfully and cleverly takes into account the sensibilities of its recipients and auditors and the opposite type, and if the demonstrations and related activities of today are designed to effect change without the kind courtesy of telling us what replaces our current situation, then it will fail.
