The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me- Isaiah 29:13
The
very mention of a hymn brings to mind a song of praise or joy, or a song of
thanksgiving to God.[1]
Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Holy
Holy Holy, It is Well, and Great is
Thy Faithfulness are some of the most popular Christian hymns. There are
also political hymns that are sung during political campaign seasons, and these
political hymns may be in the form of slogans or election campaign promises.
This article seeks to explore political hymns in Ghana in relation to election
campaigns.
Political
slogans are interesting features of elections in Ghana because of their ability
to motivate and gain public support for a particular political party during
elections. William Safire defines a slogan as ‘a rallying cry; catch phrase; a
brief message that crystallizes an idea, defines an issue, the best of which
thrill, exhort and inspire’.[2]
Political slogans typically express a political party’s ideas in a concise
manner.[3]
Since Ghana’s independence in 1957, the country has held a number of democratic
elections and political slogans have played enormous role in influencing voter
choices in those elections. The first slogan that gained much popularity was the
United Gold Coast Convention’s (UGCC) Self
Government in our Lifetime.[4]
The Nkrumah led Convention People’s Party (CPP) changed the slogan to Self Government Now. The CPP went on to
adopt Freedom as its slogan.[5]
The United Party (UP), the first nation-wide political party to oppose the CPP,
adopted Justice as its slogan.[6]
It
has, however, been observed that Ghanaians did not experience ‘freedom’ in the
First Republic despite the CPP’s slogan of freedom.[7]
The First Republic is usually remembered as a Republic that was characterised
by violations of basic rights and freedoms of citizens. Citizens did not have
the freedom of speech or freedom of association since Ghana was made a one
party state. The Preventive Detention Act (PDA), for instance, was constantly
used to punish individuals who criticised the Nkrumah’s administration.
In
1969, the Progress Party (PP) under the leadership of K.A Busia was in power.
The PP’s slogan was Sure! It turned
out that the only thing the Busia’s administration was sure of was the
unprecedented devaluation of the cedi.[8]
The Progress Party later adopted the slogan of Discipline.[9]
Citizens were highly inspired by this slogan but later discovered that their
leaders themselves had failed to exercise the discipline they were preaching
about when it came to the declaration of their assets as stipulated in the then
Constitution.[10]
The
I.K Acheampong regime which ended the PP’s reign also came up with slogans such
as Yentua, Operation Feed Yourself’ and Capturing
the Commanding Heights of the Economy.[11]
The Rawlings led National Democratic
Congress (NDC) can also be remembered for its Probity and Accountability slogan. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) under
the leadership of Kufuor adopted the slogan Positive
Change.[12]
In Kufuor’s view, there was economic negativity under the NDC government and so
it was time for a positive change for Ghana and her citizens. In 2008, the Better Ghana Agenda by the NDC gained a
lot of public support. The most popular slogans in 2012 and 2016 included Yeresesa mu; Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana; Apam Foforo; The Battle is
the Lord’s; JM Toaso; Free SHS; One District, One Factory; Ghana
Beyond Aid, and One Village, One Dam.
2020, likewise previous election years, has had its fair share of political
slogans. The most popular ones are Four
More For Nana, to Do More For You, and Jobs,
Prosperity and More.
It
is evident that political slogans are very significant since they help
propagate campaign messages as well as gain public interest in elections. Nonetheless,
just as a hymn is sang to inspire and transform lives; political slogans and
campaign promises should not merely create high level of political excitements to
win votes. Political leaders who sing political hymns during election campaigns
must be prepared to demonstrate their willingness and ability to fulfill the
promises embedded in these campaign slogans when they are eventually elected
into office. They must not just pay lip service to the electorate by throwing
around catchy slogans. Political parties should also have a renewed sense of
commitment towards fulfilling their campaign promises when they are elected
into office, rather than merely singing political hymns every election year. Electorates
should also not allow themselves to be carried away by mere political hymns
since such hymns may merely come from the lips of those who sing them, but not
from their hearts.
Richard Obeng Mensah, author of If You Think of Your Opposition You Lose Your Position .The writer is an award-winning author of 7 books and over 250 articles. He is also a certified life and leadership coach, a lawyer, a legal academic and a blogger. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com © 4 December 2020.
[1] ‘Hymn’ https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hymn accessed 15 November 2020
[2] William Safire, ‘Safire’s Political Dictionary’ (Oxford University Press 2008)
[3] Cail Newsome, ‘The Use of Slogans in Political Rhetoric’ (2002), The Corinthian: 4(3)
[4] Nikoi Kotey, ‘Ghana, A Fertile Land of Slogans, Mottos and Shibboleths’ (2002) < https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.modernghana.com/amp/news/111337/ghana-a-fertile-land-of-slogans-mottos-and-shibb.html> accessed 15 November 2020
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid
[8] Ibid
[9] Ibid
[10] Ibid
[11] Ibid
[12] Ibid
