Call a radio station to hold your government accountable

From TTC: Mobile Advocacy Toolkit Working Meeting wiki

Mobile phones can prove to be very useful to citizens who wish to hold their elected representatives accountable for the promises they made at time of elections. Over the last decade, in Ghana, there has been a huge rise in the number of local radio stations as well as the availability of mobile phones. Today, anyone with a mobile phone can call a radio station in Ghana to question a government minister about the promises he or she made during election time.

This has brought greater transparency and accountability in the governance process, says Aida Opoku-Mensah, director of information and communication technologies at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Not only has the political space become more public, thereby creating transparency and accountability but political leaders also fear that they will be embarrassed if their actions get publicised.

The extensive availability and access to radio and the mobile phone in Africa has also made it difficult to rig elections because journalists at polling stations can quickly report anything going wrong.

See the full story at http://allafrica.com/stories/200710190165.html [link title]