In our nation, political campaigns, whether internal or cross-party, tend to focus on the negative. It is frequently used as a platform for competitors to get an advantage over others by marketing their high points and, if possible, degrading their opponents. This campaigning style, which predates the country's independence, has marked every attempt at leadership since the country's birth.
Campaigns under the Fourth Republic were everything but typical. Candidates go out of their way to track out their opponents in order to secure the votes of the people. Though questioned, the unorthodoxy that defines political organization has yet to exit the country's political sphere.
A fresh wind is blowing in the Western Area, which has seen a local fabric brand marketed across the length and width of Ghana's resource-rich region, as the ruling New Patriotic Party opens nominations for leadership across the party's hierarchy.
The theme from party fans and spectators everywhere you encounter a certain candidate has been "awhendze pa nkasa," or "quality beads do not rattle." The refrain isn't meaningless. It is based on the candidate's ornamentation, which began even before his candidacy was authorized by the regional party leadership, when he embraced not just the expression but the local fabric with that symbol and made it his campaign outfit, wearing various hues of it in public.
"Awhendze pa nkasa" conveys a sense of quality. Quality, one argues, should pervade all aspects of our lives. It is the concept that mediocrity must be prioritized above detail-oriented leadership. That leadership must benefit the people, and that leaders must serve their people in an honest and polite manner.
That is what Charles COBBINA, the New Patriotic Party's Western Regional Secretary candidate, symbolizes. His choice of "Awhendze pa nkasa" as his campaign garment reflected his faith in Ghana and its traditions. He knows the importance of branding as a marketing expert and has connected himself with a brand that he says exemplifies the type of leadership he plans to bring to bear should delegates of the ruling body elect him.