Senior lecturer at the political science department of the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asa-Asante, has revealed some propaganda techniques politicians often employ in their campaigns ahead of elections.
The senior political scientist, speaking on TV3’s Election Watch Wednesday, September 9, cautioned prospective voters to beware of tricks used by politicians.
He identified two techniques: “card-sticking” and “plain folk”, which he said are two popular deceptive tools used by politicians.
Dr. Asa-Asante explained the “card sticking” technique as that which involves political party candidates deliberately holding some crucial information from the public, and churning out only that which glorifies them.
“They hide the other side of the story or the full details from the public and we’re saying that this is a deception; it’s a propaganda technique”, he emphasized.
With the ‘plain folk’ technique, he explains politicians cast themselves in good light, by making blatant claims about their morals and character, such as “I am God-fearing, honest, dedicated to service etc.” Dr. Asa-Asante cautioned the electorate not to fall for those tricks.
He urged politicians to go straight to the point and tell the electorate what exactly they will do when they are voted into power; and if they have been in power before, speak about what they actually did.
Together with his colleague, Dr. Ezekiel Nortey, the political scientists who are regular guests on Election Watch, cautioned the electorate in earlier episodes of the show not to fall for the “bandwagon” and “name-calling” techniques as those are equally deceptive.
Election Watch now shows on Wednesdays from 10:20am on TV3, an Election Command Centre programme produced in collaboration with the Governance Research Bureau.
By Maxwell Nkrumah|3news.com|Ghana