Peace seems to be on the lips of every Ghanaian and foreigners alike as the countdown towards this year’s general elections in December is on. Charles Benoni Okine writes on how social can ensure make that happen.
Social media has, in recent times become one of the major sources through which people reach each other. All day and night, people use social media to send information to friends, locate old friends, market their products and others use it as a devotional tool to reach people with the word of God.
Social media includes web- and mobile-based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals.
According to socialbakers, a popular website on the internet, Facebook monitoring also helps to improve people’s business and social media marketing strategy in every country.
Currently, there are 1,411,160 Facebook users in the Ghana, which makes it 73rd in the ranking of all Facebook statistics by Country. The total cellular/mobile voice subscriber base in Ghana as at July, 2012 stood at 23,658,697 in July as against 23,370,773 in June, according to the national Communications Authority (NCA).
In terms of penetration, penetration in Ghana is 5.80 per cent compared to the country's population and 108.80 per cent in relation to number of Internet users. The total number of FB users in Ghana is reaching 1,411,160 and grew by more than 209440 in the last 6 months.
Social media has become one of the most effective ways of communication and attracts a multitude of people particularly the youth. Realising the impact social media is making in the lives of the youth, some of the older ones are also beginning to wise up to also use social media.
Get onto Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn among others and churches, Night Clubs, shops and any other business are using social media to reach to more people.
In Ghana, political parties are not sparing this unique platform as all the Presidential candidates can now be found on Facebook and Twitter in particular to send their messages and receive positive feedback.
In other advanced democracies, political parties have used social media not only to spread their political ideology but to raise fund to campaign.
In other advanced democracies, political parties have used social media not only to spread their political ideology but to raise fund to campaign.
Why we need social media
Since 1992 when Ghana adopted the fourth republican constitutions, the Electoral Commission (EC) has always come under severe fire from political parties, notably, those in opposition. They complain that the EC has allowed itself to be used by the ruling party to manipulate figures in the strong room to win the elections.
But in one of such rebuttals, the most celebrated Chairman of an electoral commission in Ghana, Mr Afari Gyan, has maintained that it is not possible for any political party to manipulate figures when the results have been submitted to the EC headquarters from the various constituencies.
He claims in one of his famous statements that a party can only manipulate figures at the polling station level and, therefore, always called for vigilance by all voters to ensure that that fraudulent act does not happen.
This assertion has provided the parties and the electorate with the vim to ensure that they are very well represented at every polling station to avoid any such manipulation of figures.
With a few months to go, he continues to make that call. “Be vigilant at the pooling station”.
How social media can help
A mentioned earlier, the total cellular/mobile voice subscriber base in Ghana as at July, 2012 stood at 23,658,697 in July as against 23,370,773 in June. It is expected that this figure will hit the 24 million mark and beyond by Election Day.
This means that at least every electorate (13 million according to the EC) has a phone. Phones in recent times have cameras no matter how small or make, can take pictures while others can take both still pictures and video.
Without mischief, there are a number of things people can do with their phones to assist the process to be smooth and be one without violence in any form.
First, the electorate can take photos of the election process at polling stations and even record the declaration of the results mentioned for each party and put them on social media for the world, that is, their friends within Ghana and abroad to monitor the process. This can also be used to compare against the figures as they will be released at the constituency collation level and also at the national level.
Second, the electorate can use the power of their phones to record any violent acts or suspicious activities at every polling station or the collation center and send them on Facebook or Twit them for the world to see.
Third, the phones can also be used to make calls to radio and television stations to report violent acts that can mar the beauty of the elections and cause mayhem. Most of the television and radio stations are also on social media and, once verified, can post them online.
It is necessary to note that the world keenly follows Ghana’s elections and therefore, the international radio will also be interested in such videos to put on their platform. It is happening in Syria and it was what helped spark the uprising in Tuninsia, Egypt and the other Arab countries.
According to a Nigerian lecturer at the African University College of Communications, Mr Ogo Uchekuchu, social media was one of the means by which Nigeria was for the first time, able to have a peaceful and generally free and fair election.
“We twit and Facebook the figures mentioned from polling station to the other and send the messages to the electoral commission; we ask questions and give information about happenings all over and that is why the rigging was highly minimized”, he said
To him, if Nigeria made it, Ghana will have no excuse to even learn from that and do better.
Should the electorate capitalize on this social media platform, the soo called machomen hired by some of the political parties will have no job to do because their intimidation tactics would be found out and shamed.
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