On Sunday, 13th of September, the HOPE Campaign took political party campaigns to a new level by introducing virtual rallies into political space.

HOPE Campaign is a group of young Ghanaian professionals who stand for H.O.P.E. which represents Honesty, Opportunity, Prosperity and Education affiliated to the ruling New Patriotic Party, decided to use creative and innovative ways to reach the Ghanaian populace due to the novel the coronavirus pandemic.

The maiden virtual rally took place under the theme, “Transformational Leadership”.

Akosua Manu, Deputy CEO of the National Youth Authority who was the host of the first edition said, “we would be serializing the NPP manifesto and reaching out to you on the current government’s transformational agenda. We would focus on Nana Akufo-Addo’s selfless bold and credible leadership and Dr. Bawumia’s famous digital revolution.In essence, these rallies would be making a strong case for why Nana and Dr. Bawumia deserve another 4 years.”

Going virtual is novel and the beauty is the ability to plug into both social and traditional media simultaneously with real time social interactions and engagements. The virtual rally was streamed live on Facebook, on radio and tv whilst others joined via a zoom link.

The virtual rally had a lineup of dynamic and amazing speakers including Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Minister of Information, Amma Frimpomaa Dwumah; MD SIC Life Savings and Loans, Sheila Bartels – Parliamentary Candidate; Ablekuma North, Sammi Awuku; NPP National Organiser and Kweku Quarshie (Biggles); Member of the HOPE Campaign

Their speeches were short but filled with facts to inspire voters to make the right choice of giving H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government, Four More Years to Do More.

Here are some of snippets from each speaker:

“We have assessed how in almost 4 years; the Ghanaian economy has been carefully repositioned for a productive rearrangement- How the financial system has been strengthened. How import processes have been made faster, easier and more effective. How it is now easier to pay for water and power bill from our phones.  How it’s easier to do banking, insurance etc from our phones. All these and more of such rearrangements kept our HOPES alive that a strong Ghana is being built where some are wealthy, others are rich, and nobody is left poor.” – Kweku Quarshie 

Nana Akufo-Addo has a complete value chain for the youth of Ghana by strategically closing the gap and the Young Girl in Ghana has the audacity to dream and believe. For those who had already hustled through the rigours of formal education but were victims of Mr John Mahama’s unemployment epidemic, he has introduced NABCO to serve as a stop gap/transition to absorb and provide some relief to them. At the same time providing them with the needed work experience to improve their chances of securing jobs in the future. – Amma Frimpomaa Dwumah

In the last four years we have enjoyed the administration of H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo. It is worthy to note that, NPP was the party that started developmental projects in the Ablekuma North Constituency, they did all the infrastructure works that we are seeing today. For us to ensure there is even more of such, it behooves on us as people of the constituency to vote the NPP and H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo as President of the Republic, come December 7, 2020 and also to vote for Sheila Bartels as the MP to ensure the Constituency gets a leap in its development.-Sheila Bartels 

Election 2020 will be the most important one in our lifetime, the reason being that, it is the election that will show whether the country will be moving forward or remain stuck in this virtual cycle of always attempting to restart. It is an election which will determine whether young people will have a future of opportunities in this country or whether we are going to remain in this exercise of hand-to-mouth every other four years. -Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

The polls would be determined on the records and achievements of the NPP and not the propaganda of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). The NPP administration has initiated policies including free senior high school which has helped poor and deprived families send their wards to school. If the NPP had been retained after former President Kufour left office, Ghana would have several factories and other solid policies aside from the free SHS. The Nana Addo led administration deserves a second term to do more. The gains made should not be destroyed but consolidated. -Sammi Awuku 

Technology made this possible as we all know, Nana Akufo-Addo has driven the adoption of technology during his first term increasing access, digital literacy and affordability. This ultimately means more people can be reached regardless of location, device and time.

One may argue that the virtual rally takes out the element of a large cheering crowd to create the impression of widespread adoration and support but the world has changed, we do not live in normal times and thus, the new normal is the adoption of technology to engage and reach Ghanaians. There are more virtual rallies to come, watch this space.

 

By HOPE Campaign Communications Directorate