Public Agenda (Accra)
Amos Safo
13 October 2008
Accra — On September 23, two journalists (Matilda Asante, News editor of Joy FM and Amos Safo, editor of Public Agenda) enplaned to Munich, Germany at the invitation of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
Also on a similar trip were journalists from Russia, Ukraine and other satellite states of the former Soviet Union. We were invited as journalists firstly to observe the out come of the historic Bavarian elections and secondly to interact with German experts on the impact German assistance was making in our countries. We were also what form of assistance our countries would need in future to strengthen democracy and rule of law.
The trip to me, was a shift from the German government's policy of relying solely on politicians for information on partner countries, to involving the media in major policy issues. Our first meeting was with Mr. Andreas Bachman, a TV parliamentary correspondent of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation. Bachman conducted us round the various parts of the Bavarian Parliament during which he briefed us on the operations of the 180 member-house.
The highlight of his briefing was the role the media and the Bavarian TV in particular play in the overall work of Parliament. BR, as the TV station is called is state owned and therefore has a duty to the taxpayer to produce unbiased and up to date on the spot parliamentary reports. Asked if there was any policy that mandated BR to make live report from parliament, Bachman said there was no definite policy directive, but that as a publicly-funded TV station, management was left with no option than to justify why the taxpayer funds the BR.
BR has state of the art studios right in heart of the Bavarian Parliament in addition to a fleet of outdoor broadcasting facilities that beam parliamentary debates live during each session.
He explained that in Germany, the people depended mostly on the media for news and analysis of issues. This should be the ideal situation in any democracy since media audience research and public opinion surveys have consistently shown, the media have in the course of the twentieth century come to represent for most people, most of the time, their primary source of political information.
The press and broadcasting have become the 'principal means of mediating' that is standing between electorate and politicians and reporting to them what they could not see or experience themselves. This, to a large extent is applicable to matured and well endowed western media, which do not have to depend on political funding for survival.
This explains why political rallies do not attract huge numbers in Germany as is the case in Ghana and other parts of Africa, where politicians sell their messages mostly at rallies. Ghana's poorly resourced GTV occasionally broadcasts live parliamentary debates and rest is devoted to pre-made programmes.
With time, Bachman and his colleagues who report from parliament have become authorities in parliamentary work and speak with authority about the work of the Bavarian legislature. In Ghana MPs even lack the resources to work effectively, let alone assisting the parliamentary press corps.
Our encounter with Marian Schuster, a female MP of the FDP, and member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs was a give and take affair. While we were keen on knowing how she became an MP at a young age of 29, she did not see her achievement as an extraordinary affair and rather pressed for answers from us on the forthcoming elections and the media and freedom of expression.
On the election, she specifically asked what area we thought the Germany Government could be assistance to the Electoral Commission of Ghana. Both Matilda and I agreed that if there was any area of assistance for our electoral system, it was the area of compiling the voters register. We made her understand that any violence during and after the election could be triggered by a bloated electoral roll, which all stakeholders agree is not the best.
We had learnt in our interactions with electoral officials in Germany, the electoral roll is updated every day, every week, every month and very year. How is that done we asked? It is simple. When one turns 18 the electoral officers at the district or locality invite the individual through writing to vote. The forms that accompany the invitation are filled by the potential voter and retuned to the electoral office, which captures the data on the electoral register. Easy and simple; but this can only be done if vital statistics like births and death records or school enrollment registers are kept and updated.
We told the MP, that any potential electoral conflict will revolve around the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its bitterest rival, the National Democratic Congress (NDC). We stressed that through acts of commission and omission, both parties are trying to discredit the work of Electoral Commission as a grounds to reject the results if they turn out against their expectations. She promised that in future, she and her committee members would lobby for legislature support for the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
We then turned the heat on her, trying to know whether she thought providing a quota of parliamentary seats or ministerial positions for women was the best method to have more women in decision making. This was against the backdrop of fears that female representation in the Ghanaians parliament may drop in 2009. Though she agrees that the quota system in some cases has helped women, she feels the system sends the signals that women cannot do anything by themselves unless they are helped. She said in the end women who are assisted through the quota system will still have to prove that they are worth their salt. " I am glad that I am with a party where women form 25 percent of number of MPs and I went to parliament on merit."
Dr. Oliver Ernst of the Konrad Adenaeur Foundation took control of our encounter from start to end, asking all the questions and taking notes as Matilda and I provided the answers. Like Marian, Dr. Ernst's first worry was the outcome of the parliamentary and presidential elections and the role of the media in all that. In the end we realized we were running out of time for our next appointment. We explained to him that, for now the election is a straight fight between the NPP and the NDC, but if the resurgent CPP and other small parties can pull a number of floating voters, then the world should expect a second round, which comes with additional costs and potential to ignite violence. At that point we called for urgent German support between now and December to forestall trouble.
On the media landscape, we were candid that the repeal of aspects of the criminal libel law has opened up prospects for the media. But there were still areas that needed to be addressed if the media are to play their watchdog role over the other arms of government. I specifically complained about the scenario where private newspapers are unable to remain in print because of the high cost of publishing and the discrimination in the allocation of advertisement by both the government and the private sector. As a result some newspapers have hardly been on the stands for three months. Besides, reading habits in Ghana even among the most educated Ghanaians was dropping by day, which explains why newspaper readership was also dropping. I indicated that the electronic media- radio and TV have no problem with advertisements, since they have a wider reach. Matilda agreed with my assertion, but attributed part of the problems of newspapers to poor editorial work. She also blamed poor newspaper patronage on radio reviews of newspapers each morning.
Both of us told Dr. Ernst that a major hindrance to the work of the media is the failure of the government to pass the Freedom of Information Law. The absence of the law, we argued makes public officials unaccountable to the media and the public regarding essential public information. We stressed that it was in the interest of Ghanaians and our development partners that the law is passed so we can hold public officers accountable.
When we thought the meeting should be coming to an end, Dr. Ernst pressed for answers on one more thing. And what is it, we asked? He wanted to know how serious the chieftaincy disputes in Bawku and Yendi were undermining Ghana's development. We both told him that the intractable nature of the two conflicts has the potential to curtail development, given that massive resources needed for building schools, water systems and roads etc are being channeled into peacekeeping. I specifically, told him that viewed from any angle, one government or the other is always taking sides with the factions in both wars, which makes it difficult for amicable settlement. See you next week.
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