A former General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has expressed displeasure over what he calls the ‘continuous politics of insults’ amongst most political parties and the media in the country.
According to him, the act is gradually gaining acceptance in Ghana’s political landscape which must not be condoned.
He said the act only incites rage and dents the image of the country as a peaceful nation.
He asked politicians and the media in Ghana to desist from the culture of insults because it was gradually ruining the culture of politics in Ghana.
Mr Agyapong was speaking with Fiifi Pratt on Accra-based Kingdom FM where he said, “Our politicians must stay away from the politics of insults they engage in on various media platforms. Such acts can trigger violence and land us in an unpleasant state we never wished for.
“Let us do away with hateful speech and intolerance, that can cause rage and degenerate into an uncontrollable situation, and rather focus on building a peaceful Ghana we will all love to live in.
“We need to stop this trend now. It is a dent in the democracy which we pride ourselves in as the most peaceful on the continent. Our political parties must stick to issues and argue their points respectably,” he stated.
The former sports broadcaster refuted that “It is never true that politicians must be loud, aggressive and abusive. It is an unchecked trait that becomes a norm, and it is possible to change it and run clean campaigns.”
In what he described as shameful practices, he reiterated that these political actors continue to trade insults during every political campaign thus, denting the country’s democratic principles.
He called on stakeholders to help regulate content on various media platforms, insisting that such content contributed to the increment in crime rate and other social vices.
Kwabena Agyei Agyapong called on the regulatory body to institute punitive measures for media outlets that failed to comply with acceptable standards.
He thus charged the media, the fourth estate of governance, to lift their game to a more responsible role of educating, informing and fetching concerns from the citizenry.
In his view, it cannot happen with half-baked individuals engaged under very offensive conditions as storytellers or “voice they don’t have, for the voiceless!”.
He emphasised the media as a powerful tool for development and there is a need for all media houses to uphold that.
“Now, in Ghana, to be a successful politician you are to read the archives and know in detail who said what, where and did what, when, spice it up with some semantics which when broken down amount to insults.
“It’s about time we shifted from the practice of just reviewing papers to discussing issues that bother the socio-economic development of our communities and promote peace for sustainable growth.
“The setting up of decency standards by all media houses, that seek to check hosts/hostess and their panel members, is needed. Individuals and organizations must be sanctioned, and if possible blacklisted from appearing on the sets anytime they flout the decency standards. The media is the salvation of our ears, and they must show the way,” Kwabena Agyei Agyapong advised.
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