The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) electoral campaign language monitoring reports for September 30 – October 6, have revealed that affiliates and supporters of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been the most abusive on radio.
As many as 13 out of the 20 indecent expressions recorded were made by affiliates and supporters of the NPP whereas affiliates of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) made five (5) indecent expressions.
The Founder of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr. Kofi Wayo, made the remaining two of the 20 indecent remarks.
The latest findings also show that for the seventh week running, affiliates of the NPP were once again leading in the use of indecent campaign language on radio.
Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for North, is once again the only individual who used as many as four (4) indecent expressions during the week under review, MFWA statement to the Ghana News Agency stated.
Mr. Agyapong used all the four indecent expressions on his own radio station, Oman FM, which was coincidently the radio station that registered the highest number of indecent expressions.
During the reporting period (September 30 – October 6), 109 reports were received on programmes monitored on 30 out of the 31 radio stations selected for the project.
Altogether, 20 indecent expressions were recorded on 13 programmes which were mostly political in nature. All the 20 indecent expressions were captured on 10 radio stations.
Issues of corruption and the activities of political parties were the main subjects of discussion around which a lot of the indecent expressions were made.
Expressions Used and Political Party Affiliation
Expressions Used and Political Party Affiliation
Type of Expression
Political Party Affiliation of those who made indecent expressions

NPP

NDC

URP

Total

Insulting/Offensive Comments

4

3

2

9

Unsubstantiated Allegations

6

1

0

7

Provocative Remarks

2

1

0

3

Divisive Comments

1

0

0

1

Total

13

5

2

20

Two individuals, both belonging to the NPP, were found to have made more than two indecent expressions: Mr Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin North Constituency four and Mr. David Osei also of the NPP three.
Expressions Used

Type of Expression
Frequency
Insulting/Offensive Comments

9

Unsubstantiated Allegations

7

Provocative Remarks

3

Divisiveness Comments

1

Total

20

The MFWA is calling on the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) to complement efforts being made to have a more professional media that contribute positively to the peace and democratisation processes of the country.
The MFWA also urges the Ghanaian electorates to seriously consider making their voting decisions based on the substance of the issues being raised by the various political parties and candidates and reject parties and candidates who focus on insults, personality attacks and other comments that do not bode well for the peace of the country.
The monitoring of campaign language on radio is a project of the MFWA funded by STAR-Ghana. The project is aimed at contributing to ensuring issues-based and decent language campaigning in this year's elections.
It involves daily monitoring of campaign language/expressions by politicians and activists on specific programmes on 31 selected radio stations across the country.