The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has cited some members of the two major political parties in Ghana for their use of indecent expressions on radio.
Some Members of Parliament and radio programmes have also been found culpable for the same act.
The report specifically cites Johnson Aseidu Nketia, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC); John Boadu, the General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP); and Benjamin Kofi Ayeh, former NPP MP for Upper Denkyira West for using indecent language on radio.
Other persons cited in the report include Oheneba Boamah Bennie, host of Accra-based Power FM’s ‘The Battle Ground’ and Mugabe Maase, host of Power FM’s ‘Inside Politics’.
Over the monitoring period (July 1-31), a total of 2,749 radio programmes were monitored on 35 selected radio stations across the country.
The programmes included news bulletins, and political/current affairs discussions aired on the 35 radio stations.
A total of 66 indecent expressions were recorded by 36 individuals.
The 66 indecent expressions include insults, offensive comments; unsubstantiated allegations; threats of inciting violence, specific insults targeted at a specific gender, expressions or comments promoting divisiveness; and expressions promoting prejudice and bigotry.
The 36 individuals who made the indecent expressions featured on the radio programmes as hosts, discussants/panellists, interviewees and texters.
The NDC within this period recorded the highest number of indecent expressions (27) with NPP and United Front Party (UFP) recording 13 and 3 indecent expressions respectively.
16 out of the 35 radio stations monitored recorded indecent expressions.
Accra-based Power FM recorded the highest (22) indecent expressions on three of its major programmes – Inside Politics (15), The Battle Grounds (6) and Dwaboase (1).
Ahotor FM also based in Accra, recorded seven (7) indecent expressions on its morning show titled Adej kye mu nsem.
Accra-based Oman FM followed with six (6) indecent expressions while Kumasi-based Fox FM and Accra-based Okay FM recorded five (5) abusive expressions respectively.
The Elections Campaign language monitoring project seeks to promote issues-based campaigning and use of decent language/expression before, during and after Ghana’s 2020 elections.
In Ghana, the project is being implemented with funding support from STAR-Ghana Foundation and
OSIWA.
The project is also being implemented in Cote d’Ivoire and Niger with funding support from OSIWA.
Click here for the full report
