Kobby Gomez-Mensah

Growing up in Anaji Estate, a suburb of Takoradi in Ghana’s Western Region, I always felt a strong desire to help others, whether it was younger children with their work or older people with their loads. This spirit of sacrifice, service and leadership has shown through and being nurtured throughout my time at all levels of education and in my working life. An initial desire to represent my people as a legislator in the nation’s parliament, however, was slightly modified by my experience as a political journalist. After a decade seeking to, through my work, provide the information and education needed to make the crucial political choices that will define the development of our country has taught me that above all else, what the people of Ghana need is impartial, accurate and rigorously vetted information to enable them participate more meaningfully in the political process. In Ghana, as with other countries on the continent, the media is overtly and covertly influenced by politicians and politics. Media owners and managers are more beholden to their political allies than to the truth or the Ghanaian people. Indeed, not even academia is entirely immune from the influence of politicians. This means that information and analysis that inform the choices of the people are tainted with the self-interest and sometimes outright dishonesty of its purveyors. This is wrong, inimical to the development process and unsustainable for our democracy. Even though I had always been interested in actively participating in the electoral processes of my country, it was in the 2004 that I had the opportunity to cover Ghana's elections as a reporter for University of Ghana's Radio Univers. I have since covered every election, either as a reporter or an observer. I have sustained this affinity through covering politics in Ghana as well as following keenly, elections Africa and more recently the United Kingdom, the United States of America and European Union, most recently as head of politics at Starr FM and lead producer of GHOne TV’s morning television show GHToday, both owned one of the leading media franchises in the country. I led teams to design and implement initiatives to whip up enthusiasm and engender participation. These include Town Hall events that offered electorates the opportunity to interrogate the policies of candidates. We also created platforms for electorates to articulate their concerns ahead of the elections. I was also a beneficiary of the US State Department and the Foreign Press Office's Youth In Politics Initiative that engaged youth in Denver, Virginia and Washington D.C. as part of the US 2016 election. Over the period, I have appreciated how the absence of independent political analysis keeps the African public in the dark and perpetuates the hold of politicians, media practitioners and leading opinion formers influenced by parochial interest in power. Many analysts pander towards partisan positions to the extent that independent minds will simply tune off rather than engage. To help address this, I used my parliamentary report each day to highlight decisions and actions of Parliament and their implications for the general public. I have drawn attention to the haste with which lawmakers approve their allowances, in comparison with their attitude towards, for example, the kids killed while studying in a dilapidated building. I have also written on a wide range of happenings in my country and elsewhere to ensure that my voice is heard, even when my opinions have gone against the grain of popular thinking. I strongly believe that the way to improve our peoples’ lives is through information that politicians and their parochial media practitioners cannot wish away. This only comes about through knowledge based on consistent observation. My dream is to become a leading voice on the continent and the world at large as far as democracy and good governance in Africa is concerned. My dream everyday is to contribute to make my world a better place. Therefore I seek this opportunity to build my capacity to impact my society through knowledge-sharing, research and advocacy. These three, shape opinions better in my part of the world, if they are grounded both in theory and practice experience to do them. And that is what I seek to achieve through my association with ACE Practitioners Network.

Thematic Areas of Expertise