By: Alexander Kukah
Ghana’s political competition between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is no longer fought primarily at rallies, on radio, television, and newspaper pages. Increasingly, the contest for political influence is taking place on Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp and other digital platforms.
For both parties, new media has become an important tool for political communication, mobilisation, agenda-setting and opposition. Government communicators use digital platforms to explain policies and defend their record, while opposition communicators use the same platforms to challenge government narratives, highlight failures and promote alternative policies.
The development raises an important question: Has new media improved political communication in Ghana, or has it simply created a faster and more polarized version of the old political contest?
For the NPP, which governed Ghana from 2017 to January 2025, digital communication provided opportunities to communicate government policies directly to citizens and defend its record outside traditional media channels. The party’s experience in government also illustrates the difficulty of maintaining public confidence when online communication is confronted by economic concerns, criticism and competing narratives.
For the NDC, which returned to government following the December 2024 elections, new media has moved from being primarily an opposition tool to becoming an important instrument of governance and public communication. This creates a different communication responsibility: the party must now use the same digital spaces not only to criticize but also to explain, account for and defend its own decisions.
The NPP, meanwhile, faces the challenge of using new media effectively as the opposition. Its task is no longer simply to criticize the NDC but to offer credible alternatives and maintain a constructive connection with voters.
The Bigger Story
The NPP-NDC contest therefore provides a useful lens through which to examine political communication in contemporary Ghana.
The issue is not simply which party has more followers or produces the most viral content. The more important questions are:
- Does political communication provide citizens with reliable information?
- Are social-media platforms encouraging meaningful political participation?
- How do misinformation and disinformation affect public opinion?
- Has political debate become more polarized because of new media?
- Can government use social media to become more accountable?
- Can opposition parties criticize government without spreading misleading information?
- Are politicians engaging citizens or simply speaking to their existing supporters?
- How can journalists and citizens distinguish political communication from propaganda?
At the heart of the story is a changing relationship between politicians, the media and citizens. New media has weakened the traditional gatekeeping role of journalists while giving political actors unprecedented ability to communicate directly with the electorate.
For Ghana’s two dominant political parties, the challenge is therefore evolving. In government, effective communication requires transparency, responsiveness and accountability. In opposition, it requires scrutiny, credible alternatives and responsible criticism.
The NPP-NDC rivalry consequently offers more than another story about partisan politics. It provides a window into how digital communication is changing governance, political accountability and democratic participation in Ghana.
