NPP Giant Billboards All Over Again? Ah Well…

Hundreds of giant-sized billboards advertising the flag-bearer and parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the December general elections continue to spring up in strategic spots all over the country in a style akin to what happened in 2008 when the same party made a debut attempt to ‘break the 8’ but failed.

Post-mortem analysis showed that in many instances, the sheer number of the said giant billboards sprayed across the country in 2008 were rather counter-productive and caused an unintended harm to the party because there was a general perception that the obviously expensive billboards were testaments of an extravagant expenditure by the incumbent party.

A perceived-extravagant expenditure offensive to the eyes of the hungry man; indeed, a hungry man they say is an angry man. The type of silent anger voiced through the thumb at the polls.

Though there is no hard-core evidence that such expensive billboards are trappings of incumbency advantage, that perception gains currency when the same party, in opposition in the year 2012 was unable to finance such advertorial expenses.

In 2012 and 2016, it was the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) that painted town with eyebrows raising billboards and hijacked the airwaves with television and radio commercials to the envy of the opposition NPP.

How come it is only incumbent parties that get ‘friends’ to foot such expensive bills? Do the supposed friends turn into foes when the party leaves government? Some questions are for the gods. And this is one of such.

Managing the campaign of an incumbent party can be a rather complex adventure with an unfair portion of disadvantages in African elections, Ghana not excluded as the populace tend to question the source of funding of the party in power.

The campaign expenses that would not be questioned by the populace if done by an independent candidate or by an opposition party, gets probed and perceived as extravagant, tagged as suspected-corruption and booed at when same is done by the party in power. It is for this reason that the NPP, based on past experiences, ought to be sensitive towards the sentiments of the ordinary Ghanaian.

Billboards are great campaign materials but the truth is they do not win elections.

When the pros and cons are weighed, they become offensive when they are one too many to an extent they are perceived as wastefulness of money by persons who claim there is no money.

The changing attractions of a political commodity – be it a message or a person – has proven that each election should be approached with a different campaign style.

The New Publisher is of the opinion that going into the 2024 polls and the temperature of the country almost reaching boiling point, a retail campaign strategy with modest expenses would have been a better approach. A focused campaign which targets strategic stakeholders and robes in decision-influencers.

Who feels it knows it all. The people are hungry. Cost of living keeps flying higher. Everybody is complaining about challenges in making ends meet. Investors are moving out of the country and workers are being laid off. It is politically suicidal to display the slightest trace of extravagance in the times we find ourselves in.

Some hard truths need to be told and The New Publisher is not mincing words. Whether the constructive criticism would be taken as useful back or misinterpreted as hate-speech, we cannot be certain.

Anyway….Ah well.