Speak up on national issues - Daily Graphic Editor urges smaller parties
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah, has advised smaller political parties to up their game by contributing actively to discussions on national issues.
He said that was necessary to help strengthen multi-party democracy in the country.
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“If we say we are practicing a multi-party democracy and then it is only left for two political ideologies to engage in discussions when national issues are concerned, then are we are really deepening democracy? Otherwise we must consider this country as a two party state,” he stressed.
Mr Asmah stated this when the leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Mr Kofi Akpaloo, together with some executive of the party visited the company last Thursday.
The visit was meant to introduce the party executive to the editor and strengthen their relationship with the Daily Graphic, as the 2020 election approaches.
Present at the meeting were the acting Political Editor, Mr Albert Salia, acting Night Editor, Mr Samuel Bio, the Deputy Online Editor, Mr Enoch Darfah Frimpong and the Assistant Business Editor, Mr Charles Benoni Okine.
Assurance
Mr Asmah urged the leadership of the LPG to continue to share their perspectives on national issues, adding that if the party wanted to get good results in elections, it must strengthen its relationship with the media to be able to reach out to the electorate.
He assured them that anytime they needed a coverage on their programmes, Daily Graphic would not hesitate to be there to assist them.
Mr Asmah said notwithstanding the difficulties in financing the parties, smaller parties could still put in efforts to be visible to the citizenry.
“Clearly the small political parties have some challenges and we as a company recognise those challenges that is why we make conscious effort to approach them by way of interviews and make sure their opinions are heard by the masses. You don’t need financial muscle to be visible; there are a whole lot of issues on board which we need your opinion on, particularly, the 2020 budget and the referendum, you need to construct your way into the governance processes,” he said.
Acknowledgement
Mr Akpaloo commended the company for its cooperation with the party and said the goodwill needed to be taken a step further.
“As a political party, we cannot do away with the media. We need them to propagate our messages to the masses and the Daily Graphic has been one of the consistent media houses in covering our programmes,” he stated.
He said the party was more committed to serving the interest of the country and, therefore, would never give a cold shoulder anytime there was an issue of national interest and the party leadership were called upon to give their opinion.