“Onaapo” vs. “One Factory”

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors investigated how ideological differences between the two main political traditions in Ghana manifested in their campaign lyrics. The authors diachronically interrogated the 2012 and 2016 campaign songs of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party of Ghana using critical discourse analysis. The findings suggest that there are no clear manifestations of ideological differences between the two political traditions in their campaign songs. The songs had pragmatic themes that essentially dwelt on the lived socio-economic conditions of the voters. As such, these daily economic needs of the voters became the defining concerns in political campaign songs rather than ideological affinity.