By Ishmael Junourgh 
In politics, communication is not merely about having a microphone, defending a party or responding to an opponent. It is about understanding people, understanding the political environment and, most importantly, knowing how to turn ideas, policies and concerns into messages that people can understand, trust and act upon.
For the NDC in Wa Central, this is the moment to ask a fundamental question: What kind of communications officer does the constituency need as the party looks ahead to 2028?
The answer, increasingly, points to Kotia Nurideen Abubakar Bitis.
Bitis is not presenting himself as someone who has suddenly discovered politics or communication. His candidacy is built around years of experience across the grassroots, party structures, youth mobilisation, political communication, campaign management, education, administration and the media.
His argument is therefore straightforward: he is not coming to learn the job; he is coming to apply years of preparation to the job.
More than a politician
Behind the political name “Bitis” is a professional journey that provides an interesting foundation for the communications position.
He began with a Diploma in Basic Education, proceeded to obtain a B.Ed. in Social Science from the University for Development Studies, studied law at Central University, obtained an LL.M. in Natural Resources Law from the University of Ghana and completed professional legal training at the Ghana School of Law. He has also successfully passed the Ghana Bar Examinations.
That academic trajectory matters because effective political communication increasingly demands more than political loyalty. It requires the ability to understand complicated issues, interrogate information, communicate accurately and engage different audiences.
But Bitis’s CV is not simply an accumulation of certificates.
His professional experience includes teaching, administration and political work. He has served as an Administrative Assistant in the Member of Parliament’s office for the Wa Central Constituency since August 2023. Before that, he worked as a Social Studies Instructor at Wa Technical Institute and held teaching positions at other institutions.
That combination of education, law, administration and political communication gives him a broad professional lens.
And perhaps this is where his candidacy becomes particularly compelling.
Wa Central does not merely need someone who can speak. It needs someone who can understand what he is speaking about.
A political apprenticeship, not a political shortcut
Bitis’s political history is arguably one of the strongest elements of his case.
According to his interview responses, his political journey has taken him from the polling-station level to branch, constituency and regional structures. He has worked as a Research Assistant to the Wa Central Youth Organizer, served as a Branch Executive, worked on constituency and regional communications teams, served as TEIN President at UDS, and served two terms as Deputy Communications Officer.
He later became Communications Director for the MP’s campaign.
This is important because political communication at constituency level is not conducted in a vacuum.
A communications officer must understand the grassroots member who wants to be heard, the party activist who needs information, the youth who expects relevance, the communicator who needs coordination and the ordinary constituent who wants to know what government programmes actually mean for his or her life.
Bitis’s experience, as presented in his campaign profile, places him across these different layers of the political structure.
He has been, in his own words, exposed to politics from the “grassroots, the party structure, the campaign room and the media studio.”
That experience could prove valuable in an era when political communication has become faster, more fragmented and more vulnerable to misinformation.
From reactive communication to agenda-setting
Perhaps the most persuasive aspect of Bitis’s campaign is his insistence that Wa Central’s communication machinery should not be permanently trapped in a cycle of reaction.
His vision is summed up in a simple phrase:
“One Voice. One Vision. One Wa Central.”
But beneath the slogan is a more substantive proposition.
Bitis wants the constituency’s communication structure to become proactive, professional, digitally sophisticated, grassroots-driven, fact-based, responsive and united.
That means the NDC should not wait for an opposition claim before deciding what to communicate.
If government introduces a programme, the people should hear about it.
If an opportunity exists, constituents should know about it.
If misinformation emerges, it should be fact-checked.
If constituents have concerns, those concerns should be communicated.
And if there is a challenge, it should be acknowledged rather than concealed.
This is a significant shift in philosophy.
The strongest political communication is not necessarily the loudest. It is the communication that sets the agenda before somebody else sets it for you.
A communicator for a digital generation
Wa Central’s youth demographic also makes Bitis’s emphasis on digital communication relevant.
Young people increasingly consume political information through social media and digital platforms. Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, X, Instagram and YouTube have become important spaces in which political narratives are created, contested and circulated.
Bitis’s proposed response is not to abandon traditional political engagement but to combine digital communication with physical engagement.
He proposes youth forums, campus engagements, community outreach, skills and employment information sessions and structured conversations.
More importantly, he argues that political communication must speak to issues that young people actually care about: jobs, entrepreneurship, education, skills, technology, opportunities and their future.
That is a useful departure from communication that assumes young people are interested only in political slogans.
For Bitis, the challenge is to make politics useful and understandable.
Communication must also listen
One of the most important ideas in Bitis’s communication philosophy is that communication cannot be reduced to broadcasting.
He puts it succinctly: “Communication must be two-way.”
His proposed feedback structure would connect:
Polling Station → Branch → Electoral Area → Constituency → Leadership.
The significance of this proposal extends beyond party administration.
It recognises that a political organisation can lose touch with its grassroots when information flows only from leadership downward.
Bitis wants ordinary members to have a voice between elections, not only when their votes are required.
For a constituency communications officer, that could be a critical responsibility: not merely explaining the party to the people, but also helping the party understand the people.
Firm without being abusive
Political communication in Ghana can sometimes become synonymous with insults, personal attacks and partisan hostility.
Bitis offers a different communication ethic.
He argues for fact-based, respectful, disciplined and proactive communication. His approach to misinformation is to respond with facts rather than insults.
He also makes an important distinction: political opponents can be challenged without being dehumanised.
“You can be firm without being abusive. You can disagree without being disrespectful,” is the principle he proposes.
For a communications officer, this is not weakness.
It is discipline.
A communicator who can defend a political position without unnecessarily escalating political tensions may ultimately be more effective than one whose principal weapon is confrontation.
The difficult question of internal disagreement
Every political organisation experiences disagreement. The real test of leadership is not whether disagreement exists, but how it is managed.
Bitis’s proposed formula is revealing:
Listen → Understand → Mediate → Build Consensus → Protect Unity.
He does not argue that criticism should automatically be suppressed. Instead, he distinguishes between legitimate criticism, misinformation and deliberate attacks that threaten the party.
His position is that internal matters should, where possible, be resolved internally before becoming ammunition for political opponents.
That approach suggests that he sees the communications officer not simply as a party defender but also as a custodian of the party’s communication discipline.
The three issues that matter
Bitis identifies three broad concerns around which Wa Central’s communication agenda should be organised: youth employment and economic opportunity; education and human capital development; and development and access to opportunities.
The first two are particularly personal to his story.
Education transformed his own trajectory—from teacher to lawyer and now a professional entering the legal field. His own experience therefore gives substance to his emphasis on education, skills development and opportunity.
His argument is that people need more than political speeches. They need information that connects them to scholarships, TVET, skills training, entrepreneurship opportunities, employment programmes and other interventions.
This is where the communications officer’s role becomes developmental.
Information itself can be an opportunity.
If people do not know that an opportunity exists, the opportunity may as well not exist for them.
What would Bitis do in his first 100 days?
Bitis’s proposed first 100 days are built around three priorities.
First, he wants to reorganise and professionalise the communication team by identifying communicators across branches and electoral areas, understanding their strengths and improving coordination and basic communication training.
Second, he wants to establish a constituency communication and rapid-response system capable of responding to misinformation while ensuring that information released by the party is accurate, consistent and coordinated.
Third, he proposes a grassroots listening and engagement programme involving branches, youth, women, professionals, community leaders and ordinary constituents.
The three priorities are interconnected.
Organisation provides the structure. Rapid response provides agility. Listening provides relevance.
Together, they offer a model of communication that goes beyond press statements and social media posts.
Why Bitis?
Ultimately, the decision before NDC delegates in Wa Central is not simply about choosing a person who can speak well.
It is about choosing the person they believe can build and lead an effective communications structure.
Bitis brings several elements to that conversation: grassroots political experience, communications experience, campaign experience, youth mobilisation experience, administrative experience, teaching experience and legal training.
His professional and political journey also suggests that he has spent considerable time moving between different worlds—the classroom, the political organisation, the campaign environment, the MP’s office and the communications space.
That breadth could become an advantage at a time when constituency political communication is becoming increasingly complex.
But perhaps the strongest argument for Bitis is not his list of qualifications.
It is his understanding that communication is ultimately about people.
The ordinary party member must feel heard.
The youth must feel included.
Communicators must feel empowered.
Constituents must understand the opportunities available to them.
Government interventions must be explained.
Misinformation must be confronted with facts.
And the party must be able to tell its own story rather than allowing its opponents to write that story for it.
That is a communications philosophy that goes beyond winning an internal party election.
It is a proposal for how Wa Central’s NDC communication machinery could operate.
As the constituency looks toward the 2028 political contest, delegates therefore face a choice between communication as reaction and communication as strategy; between speaking and listening; between personality-driven politics and institution-building.
Bitis is making the case that Wa Central needs the latter.
His message is simple, but its implications are ambitious:
One Voice. One Vision. One Wa Central. And if the NDC delegates believe that the constituency needs a communications officer who combines political experience with professional development, grassroots understanding with digital ambition, and advocacy with disciplined communication, then Kotia Nurideen Abubakar Bitis has made a compelling case for their mandate.