The Head of the Department of Communication at the University of Ghana, Professor Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin, has urged Ghanaians to reject politicians who use insults to gain popularity, warning that society’s tolerance of abusive political conduct encourages political parties to reward it with appointments and other opportunities.
She said citizens could influence political behaviour by withdrawing attention from individuals who repeatedly use invectives, refusing to engage with their content on social media and demanding greater accountability from political leaders.
Speaking during a Joy Prime dialogue on the topic ‘The Politics of Insults: Where Do We Draw the Line?’ at Labadi Beach on Friday, October 16, she argued that organised partisan politics appeared to reward such behaviour rather than condemn it.
Prof. Yeboah-Banin said politicians were more likely to appoint individuals whose popularity could help them secure votes, suggesting that public acceptance of insults was contributing to the problem.
She urged Ghanaians to recognise their collective power to influence political parties, stressing that politicians depended on the electorate and would respond if citizens made it clear that abusive conduct was unacceptable.
“They will play the music as we want to dance,” she said, arguing that citizens had increasingly allowed politicians to dictate the tone of political discourse instead of using their influence to demand better standards.
She called on the public to stop supporting media platforms and social media personalities who repeatedly promote insults, saying a change in audience behaviour could signal that the Ghanaian public no longer tolerated such conduct.
The communication scholar also urged Parliament to hold ministerial nominees accountable for their public conduct during vetting, including considering whether their behaviour set an appropriate example for Ghanaian youth.
She said lawmakers should question nominees whose conduct undermined the standards expected of people entrusted with positions of responsibility, and consider such behaviour when deciding whether to approve them.
According to her, visible public opposition to controversial appointments could discourage future presidents from nominating individuals whose conduct was inconsistent with the expectations of public office.
She warned that rewarding people who use insults could create the impression that verbal aggression was a viable route to political success and appointments.
“For as long as it seems rewarding, young people would emulate that behaviour,” she said.
Prof. Yeboah-Banin cautioned that if the trend continued, what appeared to be the conduct of a few individuals could become widespread, with young people believing that they had to adopt abusive behaviour to succeed in politics.
She further traced some of the problem to university campuses, arguing that behaviours developed through student politics could carry into national politics.
Drawing on her experience as a former vice-president of Akuafo Hall at the University of Ghana, she said she had later realised that some student leaders she worked with were already closely aligned with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
She observed that individuals could gain recognition for their conduct in student politics because society had come to accept such behaviour, eventually creating pathways into positions of power.
Prof. Yeboah-Banin said this could send the wrong message to younger people who wanted to succeed, encouraging them to imitate those they saw being rewarded.
She therefore called for a collective shift in public attitudes, insisting that citizens, the media, Parliament and political parties all had a role to play in discouraging insults and promoting responsible conduct in Ghanaian politics.