Shortly after his presentation at the African Union – African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, David Kwasi Agyeman, Adom FM Editor, and a PhD candidate at the Department of African Studies, University of Ghana, was extended an invitation to be a member of the APRM Communications team.
His presentation was on the topic ‘Electoral Integrity and Unconstitutional Politics in Africa.’
Mr Agyeman’s invitation to join the Communications team for the African Union- African Peer Review Mechanism is to assist to build the capacity of media practitioners on electoral integrity and unconstitutional politics in Africa.
Mr Agyeman’s presentation touched the nerves of the organisers and without hesitation extended the invitation in front of the audience at the seminar.
The presentation gave the ranks of African democratic countries with the highest electoral integrity.
Ghana is ranked third, Benin is second and Cape Verde is first with 71/100, Benin 70/100 and Ghana 65/100.
The least ranked on the globe are Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi with 24/100, according to the 2019 Report captured by Electoral Integrity Worldwide.
The paper further talked about undemocratic changes in government such as military take-over, removal of democratic government from office by mercenaries and democratic government’s unwillingness to leave office after end of tenure.
Mr Agyeman contextualised the subject matter with the media cultivation theory in the search for solutions to the problem that continues to plaque Africa’s democratic architecture.
The theory suggests that exposure to media content affects viewers’ perceptions of reality, messages and members of the general public.