Describes Party’s Office as Propaganda Factory where Lies a Cooked to Deceive Public for Votes
By Prince Ahenkorah
Sylvester Tetteh, a candidate for the New Patriotic Party’s General Secretary position, has sparked controversy with a candid admission that the party must rely on propaganda rather than facts to survive in opposition a statement that exposes the NPP’s struggle to adapt to life out of power after eight years in government.
In a video circulating on social media, Tetteh told party members that the ruling National Democratic Congress was creating fear among NPP communicators through the arrest of TikTokers and other social media activists. His solution: a communication strategy designed to put the government on the defensive by setting the political agenda and forcing the NDC to respond.
“We are in opposition, we don’t need facts, we need to propagate. We need to propagate,” Tetteh declared.
Tetteh drew a stark distinction between Parliament and the NPP’s national headquarters at Asylum Down, arguing that while Parliament is a house of records, the party headquarters should function as a centre for political propaganda.
“One and a half years in opposition, the party is in Parliament; there is no problem. But Parliament is a house of records. At Asylum Down, it is not a place of records, it is a place of propaganda,” he stated.
The distinction is significant. It suggests that the NPP, which spent eight years in power championing accountability and transparency, now sees truth as a parliamentary luxury it can no longer afford. The admission that a party’s central coordinating body should operate on propaganda rather than facts marks a striking departure from the NPP’s professed values.
Tetteh’s argument reflects a school of political strategy that treats opposition politics as perpetual warfare, where winning the perception battle matters more than grounding campaigns in verifiable facts. His suggestion that “national security must meet” those who speak as opposition General Secretaries appears to be a warning about the risks of crossing state power.
The NPP’s predicament is real. The party has lost power after eight years in government and is still adjusting to a role it last occupied between 2009 and 2017. It is also confronting an NDC administration that has shown willingness to use state institutions from the Office of the Special Prosecutor to the Criminal Investigations Department to pursue political opponents.
But Tetteh’s advice carries significant political risk for the NPP. A strategy built on propaganda rather than facts may energise the base but it also alienates the broader electorate that the party must win back if it hopes to return to power in 2028.
The NPP’s 2024 election defeat was attributed in part to the party’s perceived failure to deliver on its promises and its inability to counter the NDC’s messaging. Tetteh’s solution to double down on propaganda suggests the party is learning the wrong lessons from its defeat.
The NDC has its own challenges in government, and the NPP has legitimate grounds to critique the administration’s performance. But a strategy that abandons facts for propaganda risks turning legitimate criticism into noise that voters will eventually tune out.
The debate within the NPP over strategy reflects a deeper identity crisis. After eight years in power, the party’s messaging infrastructure is geared towards defending government policy rather than opposing it. The transition to opposition requires a different set of skills and a different relationship with the truth.
Tetteh’s approach is a version of the opposition playbook that treats politics as a zero-sum game where perception is reality. It is a strategy that has been used by opposition parties across the continent, often with corrosive effects on democratic culture and public trust.
The NPP’s most effective opposition period between 2009 and 2017 was characterised by robust policy critique and evidence-based argument, not propaganda. The party’s decision to abandon that approach would be a significant shift, and one that could have long-term implications for its credibility.
Sylvester Tetteh’s candour is refreshingly honest, but his advice is politically dangerous. To argue that the NPP’s headquarters should be a “place of propaganda” rather than a place of facts is to abandon the very principles that the party claimed to champion during its eight years in government.
The NPP faces a genuine challenge in finding its voice in opposition. The NDC’s use of state machinery against political opponents is a legitimate concern. But the answer is not to abandon facts for propaganda it is to defend the truth more vigorously and to hold the government accountable on substance, not spin.
A political party that admits it needs propaganda rather than facts to survive has already lost the argument before it has even begun. The NPP would do well to remember that voters punish parties that treat them as fools. Propaganda may energise the base, but it is policy and credibility that win elections.
Tetteh’s pitch for the General Secretary position may resonate with party activists frustrated by the NDC’s aggression. But if the NPP adopts his approach as its official strategy, it risks becoming an opposition that no one believes – and that is a position from which it will never return to power.