NDC to outdoor new Propaganda Group

• Posted on October 24, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) will today outdoor a propaganda group whose main purpose will be to deflect negative media from the fumbling John Dramani Mahama-led government.

The group, Young Cadres, concedes that the NDC is losing the media battle to opposition parties and critics, saying their formation is therefore a response designed to halt the declining mass support for the NDC regime through Language and Force.

“By force means the material condition provided by the social base and the political organisational machine. Language controls the spiritual aspects of the process; in this sense propaganda,” a manual of the group available to DAILY GUIDE stated.

“We feel that the NDC media has not been able to capture much space in the media landscape, so we are trying to get more into the media landscape and get much space for the NDC as well,” Michael Ewur Bekoe, a leading member of the group, exclusively told DAILY GUIDE via telephone yesterday.

“There are very important national issues at stake and there are no groups that are out to defend the government and the party,” he said.

According to Mr Bekoe, the group is “coming on as an extra force to strengthen the front of the government.”

It will hold its maiden press conference at Kwesi Pratt’s Freedom Centre with support from Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations.

The press conference is on the controversial GNPC drill ship, which was sold to defray judgement debt incurred by Tsatsu Tsikata when he was the state oil company boss.

Ofosu Kwakye’s Brainchild

The main sponsor of this group is a Deputy Minister of Information in the NDC government, Felix Ofosu-Kwakye, DAILY GUIDE can confirm.

It is unclear the level of financial and non-financial support the deputy Information Minister would be giving to the group. “We have spoken to Felix and I think the response is very good; he is co-operating. I think for now, this is the only support base that we have,” Mr. Bekoe told DAILY GUIDE.

The other agenda of the group, is to directly target the youth group of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)-the Young Patriots.“We purposely established the Young Cadres wing to serve the purpose of battling it out with the Young Patriots for much political space,” he stated, conceding that the NDC was losing the media battle to the opposition parties, particularly the NPP.

“The youthful and activist tendencies within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are gaining strength, will and visibility. The Young Patriots, for example, has become the main activist organ of the NPP who inspired the Let My Vote Count Alliance. There is also a growing trend where visible progressive youth leaders who by inclination are expected to re-enforce the NDC are shifting allegiance to the NPP, as the CPP and PNC are losing political relevance with a decisive evolution of a two-party state. This is made clearer by the fact that most activists of the Let My Vote Count Alliance who are not members of the NPP, but stood and fought on the side of the NDC in 2008 but not in 2012,” the Young Cadres manual stated unequivocally.

“These developments strengthen and encourage the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on its path of political insurgency. This must be addressed,” it added,

According to the group, it would put a “full scale” spotlight on John Kufuor-led NPP and how their management impacted on the “prevailing social and economic challenges.”

But critics have rubbished this agenda, saying the NDC should have been able to deal with whatever social and economic effects of the NPP administration which ended more than five years ago, They, therefore, believe that the John Mahama administration is just looking for a scapegoat to pass the buck, since the kitchen is becoming too hot for them to bear in view of the economic hardships.

NDC Sleeping Groups

According to the Young Cadres, the main aim of the presidential election petition of the NPP was basically to undermine the legitimacy of President Mahama.

“This has been unsuccessful basically not only as a result of the incredulity of the claims in the petition of the NPP but even more critical, the pool of public support, appeal and trust enjoyed by President Mahama and the NDC leadership. It is important that this pool of support must be continuously and consciously nurtured and strengthened,” the group observed.

It warned that the youth groups that sprang up during the elections to spin information for the government had all gone to sleep, thus giving the NPP an upper-hand.

“All the above illustration of the precarious political condition of the NDC has further been worsened by the fact that; the youth organisations that sprang up in the election period are now spiritless. They in most cases simply rely on the public patronage of H.E. John Dramani Mahama and the general enthusiasm of the electoral season. All the groups were named after the President to the effect that they are now obsolete in the post elections period.”

“However it will be expensive and ultimately disastrous for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), should these youth organisations, platforms and tendencies that were involved in the elections be allowed to disperse,” the Young Cadres warned the NDC.

By Raphael Ofori-Adeniran