Apparently, the meaning of propaganda traces its roots to the “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”- a committee of Cardinals founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV to oversee the spread of Catholicism abroad, by any means necessary”.

Consequently, the word propaganda came to mean the concerted effort to spread any belief the communist Propagandists are associated with. Therefore propaganda is regarded as "a deliberate attempt to alter or maintain a balance of power that is advantageous to the communists”.

Propaganda may also be defined in its most neutral and simple sense as “the persuasive dissemination of particular ideas or material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause”.

In other words, “propagandism” is the systematic propagation of a doctrine or information reflecting the views and interests of those propagating such information or doctrine.

Moreover, the experts contend that a message can be classified as propaganda if it “suggests something negative and dishonest”.

So, it should never be a surprise to see a party whose founder has an inborn proclivity for communist ideals to hoodwink unsuspecting electorates with their often non-existent infrastructural achievements via a symbolic communist green book.

The NDC Party has dishonestly delineated some phantom infrastructural projects in its green book of communism to the disgust of discerning Ghanaians.

In fact, the NDC’s infrastructural propaganda underscores Hitler’s observation on propaganda. Hitler asserted: "With the help of a skilful and continuous application of propaganda, it is possible to make the people conceive even of heaven as hell” (Adolf Hitler).

Let us also point out that the founder of the NDC Party J. J. Rawlings is a communist enthusiast who burst into the scene through a series of coup d’états.

It would be recalled that after successfully deposing General Akuffo and his Supreme Military Council (SMC) government, J. J. Rawlings and some mutinous officers went ahead and formed their own government which they named as the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and appointed Flt. Rawlings as their chairman in 1979.

Ironically, Rawlings and his conspiratorial plotters vowed to lustrate the country of the rampant sleaze, corruption and social injustices which instigated their coup d’état.

So in their attempt to purge the country of the perceived injustices, they carried out what they termed “house cleaning exercise”,--they dealt with perceived offenders capriciously.

The villainous cabals went ahead with their intentions and savagely murdered prominent people including General Fred Akufo, General Kutu Acheampong, General Akwasi Afrifa and many others.

In fact, after annihilating those they perceived to be a threat to their hidden agenda, they decided to organise general elections for political parties in the same year-1979.

Subsequent to the successful conduction of general elections, Dr Hilla Limann and his People’s National Party (PNP) emerged victorious in 1979.

Regrettably, however, Rawlings and his cohorts did not give Dr Liman the breathing space to carry out his mandated responsibility.

Unfortunately, Rawlings and his conspiratorial plotters unfairly kept criticising Dr Limann’s administration for what they perceived as economic mismanagement, until he, Rawlings, decided to overthrow Dr Limann.

And to fulfil his lifetime ambition of becoming the head of state through the back door, J. J. Rawlings and some obstreperous army officers took arms and succeeded in overthrowing the constitutionally elected government of Dr Hilla Limann on 31st December 1981.

Rawlings subsequently formed a government which he called the Provisional national Defence Council (PNDC) and enstooled himself as the chairman.

In his fiendish attempt to get rid of sleaze and corruption, many Ghanaians were unjustifiably murdered or tortured mercilessly for apparent infinitesimal offences.

Rawlings rather chose communist approach to ensuring sanity into the system, hence exterminating innocent people without any provocation whatsoever.

“Revolutions, like trees, must be judged by their fruit” (Stephane Courtois).

A school of thought, however, contends that coup makers take their inspirations from communism.

As a matter of fact, Ghana’s revolution days could be likened to: “in the China of “the Great Helmsman,” Kim Il Sung’s Korea, Vietnam under “Uncle Ho” and Cuba under Castro, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, and Afghanistan under Najibullah”.

“Communist regimes turned mass crime into full-blown system of governance” (Stephane Courtois).

Interestingly, Courtois claims that Communist regimes were responsible for a greater number of humiliations and inexplicable murders than any other political ideal or movement, including Nazism.

Regrettably, however, many innocent people suffered humiliations and death under Rawlings’s despotic regime. Market women were stripped naked in the public and whipped mercilessly for either hauling their products or selling on high prices.

While their male counterparts were barbarically shaved with broken bottles and whipped for offences that would not even warrant a Police caution in a civilized society.

As if that was not enough, three eminent high court judges and a prominent retired army officer were barbarically murdered by PNDC henchmen on 30th June 1982 for carrying out their constitutionally mandated duties.

Apparently, the PNDC apologists savagely murdered the three eminent high court judges because their judgement did not go in their favour. How cruel some people could be?

Even though Rawlings supplanted power under the pretext of acting as a peripheral Panacea, he cunningly spent a little over eleven years and bettered his life and that of his family before lifting the ban on political parties in 1992.

Although the term "communism" can be referred to specific political parties, communism is an ideology of economic equality through the elimination of private property”.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, when the chivalrous communist enthusiast Rawlings burst into the scene, he tempestuously murdered people with more than two cars.

Moreover, Rawlings boldly exhibited his communist ideals by going into war with business men and women in the country.

Ironically, Rawlings replaced our educational system with that of a communist model. Deceitfully, however, he turned round and sent his children abroad to study in what he saw as a superior educational system.

Rawlings however succumbed to the internal and external political pressures for him to step down and allow multi-party democracy.

Subsequently, he lifted the ban on political parties in 1992 and resigned from the military simultaneously and put himself forward for election.

Following his retirement from the military, Rawlings went ahead and formed a political party, which he named as the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a progeny of PNDC.

Yes, NDC Party was founded on communist ideals. Thus the party thrives on vile propaganda.

Besides, due to its communist ideals, the NDC Party is anti-business, hence burdening entrepreneurs with stiff taxes and deliberately causing ‘dumsor’ to cripple the hitherto thriving business environment.

K. Badu, UK.

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