By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Nov. 29, GNA – The members of the Bono Regional Paramount Queen Mothers Association have been educated on disinformation and misinformation to ensure peaceful Election 2024 and beyond at a workshop which ended on Thursday in Sunyani.
The three-day event was organised and funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German-based political foundation in partnership with the Association on the theme “Combating Disinformation and Misinformation: The Role of Queen Mothers in Ensuring Peaceful Elections.”
It was attended by more than 30 paramount and divisional queen mothers and aimed “to explore the evolving role of queen mothers in addressing disinformation and misinformation while promoting peaceful elections in the country”.
The KAS since its establishment in 1955 has expanded its activities to more than 120 countries with major focus areas of political education, international dialogue, development cooperation, promotion of democracy, rule of law, social market economy and human rights globally.
The Foundation, besides other functions and activities works closely with political, social, and economic leaders in various countries to promote sustainable development, good governance, and the protection of human rights
Addressing the participants, Ms. Anna Lena Sabroso-Wasserfall, the Country Representative of KAS-Ghana expressed delight that KAS-Ghana had worked with the Queen Mothers over the years.
She emphasised the vital role queen mothers played in fostering peaceful democratic processes, saying they also played integral role in addressing the growing challenge of disinformation and misinformation in the society.
Ms. Sabroso-Wasserfall noted society was looking up to the queen mothers to use their influences to maintain community cohesion especially at the time Ghana was preparing to go to the December 7 general election.
She said the current electoral landscape of Ghana where disinformation and misinformation could sow division, incite violence, and erode trust in democratic institutions, queen mothers were uniquely positioned to counter those threats by promoting truth, transparency, and peace in their communities.
Ms. Sabroso-Wasserfall noted “disinformation and misinformation are not a new phenomenon” but had become part of the world with social media channels being the breeding grounds for that.
She expressed concern that the challenge was not about the volume of disinformation but “the content” and therefore cautioned the consequences could be dire if steps were not taken to control and prevent its surge.
Ms. Sabroso-Wasserfall thus challenged the queen mothers to use their traditional influence within their respective communities to identify and counter false information, encourage peaceful dialogue, and ensure that all stakeholders including vulnerable groups participated in the electoral process with integrity and understanding.
She charged the queen mothers to hold individuals and organisations accountable for the information they churned out and encouraged them to serve as advocates for informed voting, protectors of community peace and champions of fact-based discourse.
Ms. Sabroso-Wasserfall assured KAS commitment to enhancing the capacity of traditional leaders by equipping them with the tools and strategies needed to combat disinformation and misinformation, promote civic responsibility, foster peace, and promote ethical responsibility in the media.
She announced KAS- Ghana would continue to work with partners including the National Queen Mothers’ Platform to reduce the spread of false information in the country and cautioned that “its dangers are real and multi-faceted affecting communities.”
Dr. James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr., a lecturer at UPSA and the Head of Administration, Research and Advocacy at KN and Associates, a legal and human resource consulting firm in Accra and Professor Gamel O. Wiredu, Former Dean, School of Technology, GIMPA and Director, GIMPA Kumasi Campus facilitated through slide presentations and questions and answers sessions at the workshop.
Dr. Bomfeh Jnr educated participants on “Understanding Disinformation and Misinformation: Tools for Detecting False Information” while Prof. Wiredu spoke on “The Impact of Disinformation on Electoral Violence: Strategies for Queen Mothers to Promote Peace.”
Earlier in a welcoming address, Nana Yaa Ansua, the Paramount Queen Mother of Drobo Traditional Area in the Jaman South Municipality of Bono Region and the President of the Bono Regional Paramount Queen Mothers Association was appreciative of the enormous support KAS-Ghana had been offering to the Association.
Nana Ansua who is also the Secretary of the National Queen Mothers’ Platform said the importance of the theme required that more people had the opportunity to participate in the workshop.
She stated the peace of the country was important to them as mothers and as queen mothers, especially as the country approached the Election 2024 and therefore encouraged queen mothers to accept and embrace all people with diverse political backgrounds in their jurisdictions.
GNA
