Young voters predominantly first time voters were utterly amazed with the power of a digital platform designed to help them make informed political choices that meets their aspirations when Penplusbytes held its elections manifesto public forum in Kumasi ahead of Ghana’s December 7, 2024 general elections.
The Ghana Elections 2024 Voters’ Compass Platform was put together by Good governance and accountability driven Civil Society Organization, Penplusbytes as part of the African Elections Project.
After swiping through a series of simple questions, the web based platform which contains summaries of all the manifesto and key campaign promises of all presidential candidates leverages algorithms and artificial intelligence to give a voter a fair idea of which political party’s ideals best align with their aspirations.
“Voterscompass.africanelections.org should help our youth depart from basing their votes on religion, tribalism, looks and other frivolous matters which we really want to get away from. Aside this we don’t want manifestos to just be about ticking the boxes but actionable commitments that lead to national development,” executive director of Penplusbytes Jerry Sam told Ultimate FM in Kumasi.
Participants who engaged the platform commended penplusbytes and the Developers at VoteSwiper, the German-based civic-tech organization which designed the app, for the user friendly interface and the level of accuracy it delivers in helping end users make precise choices.
“Though we have seen many manifesto promises which were not fulfilled by political leaders, Manifestos are essential tools needed to understand what aspiring leaders want to do. When I went through the app, I think now I am convinced which party I want to vote for. Kwaku Asumani Ababio, a student studying Communications Design at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology noted.
An executive with Youth Without Borders Ghana Betty Adjei called for the app to be improved with follow up questions for different segments and thematic areas for which questions were set,”
“Yes the app is useful but I think there is still more room for improvement. For instance, a question asking me about the NDC’s promised 24-hour economy doesn’t allow me to tell in which way I would want that 24-hour economy operationalized Breaking them up into segments and thematic areas with follow up questions would help me arrive at a sharper decision,” she told reporter Ivan Heathcote Fumador.
Public Forum
Ahead of the introduction of the web based platform, representatives of major political parties including the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP); Ghana’s largest opposition party – National Democratic Congress (NDC); THE Movement For Change (MFC) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) took turns in both plenary and panel sessions to engage the youth on their campaign manifestos.
Participants stirred heated debates among the reps when they questioned key manifesto promises on which candidates are campaigning for votes and their commitment to the promises considering the myriad of unfulfilled promises in Ghana’s political history.
Senior Lecturer with the KNUST and constituency chairman for the National Democratic Congress in the Afigya Kwabre South constituency Dr. Dr. Seth Christopher Yaw Appiah attributed the mistrust to perennial lies often peddled by candidates.
He insisted, “it is the level of dishonesty and betrayal of the NPP government that has caused so many Ghanaians to have a distrust in manifestoes. They promised heaven and now we are in the abyss.
“We re not even on planet earth. If you read the book of Revelations, the enemy satan was thrown into the bottomless pit. Now Ghana is in the bottomless pit and we need John Dramani Mahama to rescue us, bring us unto the surface before we start moving and that is the resetting agenda,” he strongly contended.
Communications officer for the NPP Dr. Keskine Owusu Poku will have none of that; contending the NPP has proven its prowess meeting its promises to the electorate.
He argued; “Nowhere do political parties in the world fulfill all manifesto promises but under this forth republic, the NPP outweighs the NDC when it comes to fulfilling campaign promises. Talk of the free SHS; free maternal care; mass cocoa spraying, the national health insurance and the rest, we have done more in social policies that benefit all Ghanaians.”
“We had the former president telling us we shouldn’t implement the Free Senior High School policy on the whimsical promises of a desperate politician now he claims he implemented it. That should tell you why people don’t trust politicians,” he added.
The Ghana Elections 2024 Voters’ Compass Platform supported by the German Government also saw in attendance civil society organizations and other stakeholder groups interested in good governance and accountability.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Ivan Heathcote – Fumador
