Sustaining Good Governance, Political Accountability and Development in Ghanaian Politics: The Role of Political Songs

Abstract

Songs have played important roles in the political history of Ghana. From the colonial to post-colonial times, songs have featured prominently in the body politic of the country. In contemporary times, political songs have taken center stage in expressing issues about governance, democracy and development. Using the qualitative model, the paper interrogates the contributions of political songs in sustaining good governance and development in Ghanaian politics. In the conduct of this research, the following research questions were posed. What are political songs? How do they contribute to the sustenance of good governance and development in Ghanaian politics? What messages do these songs send out to the public? What roles do political songs play during elections? The first section focuses on the history of political songs in colonial and post-colonial Ghana. The second section discusses three selected political songs to ascertain the messages they send out to the public. The third section deals with the roles of political songs in sustaining good governance and development in Ghana. In this section, the paper employs textual analysis and interviews to analyze six-selected political songs that depict the theme of good governance. The paper concludes that political songs educate the public about governance issues, help politicians to send messages to the electorates during electioneering campaigns and preach the message of peace and unity to Ghanaians. Political songs are relevant in sustaining good governance in contemporary Ghanaian politics