Who Tells Ghana’s Political Story? Why Our Filmmakers Must Step In

“Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” — African Proverb

Every election in Ghana comes with its own storytelling. Campaign jingles, debates, manifestos, press conferences, each side working to cast heroes and villains, victories and betrayals. But after the ballot boxes are sealed and the results announced, the bigger question lingers: what will history remember, and who gets to write that memory? Too often, our national memory is shaped not by balanced accounts but by partisan propaganda, sensationalist media, or half-hearted textbook summaries. And in this vacuum, one medium that could change everything is film, as it remains painfully absent. If we are serious about building a shared national identity, educating citizens on our democratic journey, and preserving political memory with honesty and depth, then we must ask: why hasn’t Ghanaian cinema joined the struggle to define our political story?

Politics as Story, Story as Power
Every four years, we practice democracy. But beyond the voting lines lies another battle: the fight to define what each election meant. Was 1992 the rebirth of multiparty democracy or the rebranding of a military regime? Was 2000 the consolidation of democratic power or just a polite rotation of elites? Was 2020 about resilience in a pandemic or an era of economic misdirection? The truth is, elections are not just about what happened. They are about how events are remembered. And memory is not neutral. It is constructed by politicians, by journalists, by gossip. But rarely by our filmmakers, historians, or national archives.

Which begs the question:

• Where is the biopic on Jerry Rawlings, warts, charisma, and contradictions included?
• Where is the documentary on the 1995 Kume Preko protests?
• Where is the dramatization of NPP-NDC ideological clashes?
• Where is the mini-series on the Electoral Commission, from Afari-Gyan to Jean Mensa?

These are not frivolous projects. They are building blocks of civic consciousness. Without them, we forget too easily. Myths replace facts. Manipulation thrives. And as one saying goes, the danger is not in forgetting, it is in being told what to remember.

Why Film Matters
Other countries take this serious. For instance, South Africa gave the world Long Walk to Freedom and Silverton Siege. Kenya offered Softie, a gripping documentary on activism and family sacrifice. Cuba, for decades, has filmed its revolutions and transitions as part of a cultural preservation project. Ghana, by contrast, has reduced political storytelling to campaign ads, victory parades, and insults on radio. That is not just a cultural gap. It is a democratic vulnerability. Film has the power to revisit controversies with clarity instead of bias, to archive protests and policies for future generations, to humanize leaders without turning them into caricatures, and to spark real debate about governance and democratic ideals. History is not only what happened. It is what gets filmed, archived, and taught.

The Cost of Silence
When filmmakers avoid politics, three things happen:

1. False heroes rise—those with media capital dominate the narrative.
2. Young people disengage—without stories, politics feels abstract, even irrelevant.
3. Democracy weakens—no archive, no memory, no critical citizenry.

This is not a creative failure. It is a political one.

A Way Forward
If Ghana wants to reclaim its political narrative, here are some practical steps:

1. Create a Ghana Political Cinema Fund – a public-private partnership to finance political films.
2. Launch a Political Film Series on GTV and YouTube – monthly episodes that dramatize historic events and political transitions.
3. Decentralize Film Competitions – encourage regional filmmakers to tell local political stories.
4. Build a National Political Memory Archive – a digital, visual library for schools and the public.
5. Support Civic Screenwriting – grants, mentorships, and awards for filmmakers who tackle governance and elections.

Rethinking the Role of the Filmmaker
In Ghana, filmmakers are still largely seen as entertainers. That must change. A filmmaker is also a historian, a social critic, a civic educator, a custodian of memory. Journalists hold the present accountable but filmmakers hold both the past and the future accountable. In an age of fake news and weaponized history, film is no longer just art, it is democracy’s memory card. If we continue outsourcing our political memory to partisan slogans and biased media, we risk building a democracy without a soul. Ghana deserves better: a cinema of truth, nuance, and civic depth. The time has come for filmmakers, educators, cultural critics, and policymakers to ask: Whose camera gets to frame Ghana’s political soul?

Bright Kwadwo Oduro is a teaching and research assistant and columnist dedicated to exploring issues related to development and film as a tool for education, policy engagement, and civic transformation. He writes the weekly series “Film as a Developmental Tool in Ghana”.