Nana Addo beats Mahama on Facebook in Penplusbytes’ Third Governance Social Media Index

Since June 2016, Penplusbytes has issued two Governance Social Media Index (GSMI) reports. The 1^st Edition published on June 30^th, provided a baseline data on the presence of Political party leaders, Political parties and election management bodies on Twitter and Facebook. The 2^nd Edition issued on September 30^th 2016 measured how the political parties and their candidates are using social media tools (using the June baseline) for their benefits ahead of the 2016 elections. This edition provides an assessment of which political parties and leaders have the most presence on social media and the level of their engagement as of 4^th December 2016. 

According to the 3^rd GSMI report which is downloadable here, the largest opposition party’s leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, leads the pack of presidential candidates on Facebook with 1,253,452 likes which is an increase of over 200,000 more likes from the last report. President John Dramani Mahama followed in 2nd with 1,073,088 likes on Facebook which also indicates an increase of over 60,000 likes from the last report. 

The 3^rd GSMI has shown that the opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has over taken President John Dramani Mahama who led the pack of the presidential candidates in the 2^nd edition of GMSI issued in September 30, 2016. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo gained more likes (272,395) as compared to that of President Mahama (65,493) in the last two months. 

On the other hand, President John Dramani Mahama has a commanding lead on Twitter with 303,924 followers, followed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with 119,725 followers. This lead on Twitter gives the President a clear opportunity to make the critical impact through his messages because of the wider audience at virtually no cost to him. Even though President Mahama leads on Twitter with 303,924 followers, the opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has engaged more with his constituents via Twitter with 5,372 tweets.

According to the Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu II, “the report has shown that social media has become a normal and central form of communication for all segments of the population, particularly, political parties and their leaders who increasingly rely on this new media for constant engagement with their constituents because it provides direct, cheap platform, and a two-way information dissemination in real time about their programs ahead the 2016 Ghana elections.”

The report has further shown that all political party leaders are taking advantage of the real-time, two-way and cheap communication opportunities presented by social media to propagate their campaign messages in a very positive manner. The constant engagement with the youth who are the majority users of these platforms is very positive as it provides an opportunity for the youth to express themselves.

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Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilization of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.

PENPLUSBYTES TO TRAIN JOURNALISTS IN TEMA/ASHAIMAN AREA ON REPORTING USING ICTS

While Ghana has been lauded for electoral success in times past, there are challenges with participatory, transparent and accountable governance which have accounted for poor public service delivery especially at the grassroots level.

Penplusbytes, in its quest to help to promote citizens’ participation at the grassroots level of governance, is implementing the Canadian Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI) funded project “Enhancing Grassroots Civic Participation in Governance Using New Digital Tools”.

The project has an overall aim of empowering citizens through digital tools to effectively participate in the local governance decision making process and to promote better public service delivery especially in health and education.

To achieve this aim, Penplusbytes will train selected journalists to acquire the necessary skills and understanding of the local governance process and how to simplify and report on the district assembly’ budget and development plans to create awareness, inform and educate citizens. They will also be taken through courses on advocacy and how to hold duty bearers to account and facilitating citizens’ engagement with duty bearers.

The 2 day training, slated for 21-22 November, is scheduled to take place at Penplusbytes’ New Media Hub and bringing together 15 selected journalists whose work focuses on governance activities in the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly. The Participants will be taken through how the online portal designed for the project works www.opengov.org.gh/ashaiman.

The training is aimed at increasing the understanding of these persons in closing feedback loop in citizens’ engagement at the grassroots level of governance and in equipping them with the requisite tools to tell compelling stories that will enable citizens participate in the local government process and provide an opportunity for the Assembly officials to effectively collaborate with the media in securing the buy-in of citizens in the Assembly’s projects.

Jerry Sam, Programmes Director at Penplusbytes said, “We expect this training to produce journalists who are interested in the happenings within their localities and are well equipped with ICT tools to disseminate such news in an appealing manner to audiences. Penplusbytes as an organization is poised to deliver innovative training for media persons. We have done it over the years, it’s nothing new to us.”

The project will help close the existing interface and institutional capacity gaps by transforming the relationship between actors at the local level by creating awareness amongst citizens on allocated budgets and development plans.

It is expected that at the completion of the project, civic engagement in local governance processes will be improved, duty bearers and public officials will be more responsive to citizens’ needs and design policies and programmes that will address citizens specific concerns and the media playing an effective oversight role in holding duty bearers account in public service delivery.


About
Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.