Claim: Social media users claim that Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, never met with Queen Elizabeth II during her reign, unlike some of his predecessors.
The claim is false. In 2018, President Akufo-Addo met with the Queen when he attended the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.
Full Text
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, social media users in Ghana have been sharing images of some encounters she has had with Ghanaian leaders. Pictures of the Queen with former Presidents Kwame Nkrumah, John Jerry Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, Joh Evans Atta-Mills, and John Mahama have all resurfaced online.
DUBAWA has observed that some users have claimed that Akufo-Addo is the only Ghanaian president in the fourth republic not to have met the Queen until her death. Some of these posts can be found here, here, and here. There is also an online publication that claims that President Akufo-Addo is missing among Ghanaian heads of state who ever met with the Queen.
On Sunday, September 11, 2022, a Deputy Director of Communications at the Office of the President, Jefferson Sackey, published a photo of President Akufo-Addo and Queen Elizabeth shaking hands.
“I witnessed President Akufo-Addo propose a toast in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace in April 2018, during a dinner for Heads of State of the Commonwealth. The Queen’s response brought back memories of some of the greatest moments of her visits to Ghana,” he captioned the photo on Twitter.
A screenshot of the post by Jefferson Sackey
Several responses to the post accused the author of publishing a ‘photoshopped’ image.
Did President Akufo-Addo ever meet Queen Elizabeth?
Verification
In April 2018, President Akufo-Addo left the country to attend the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. The meeting had leaders from member countries come together to reaffirm common values. Queen Elizabeth II was also present at the meeting, together with other members of the Royal family.
In an 8-minute video published on YouTube by Kigali Today, a verified channel, we spotted President Akufo-Addo among the leaders at the Opening of the Meeting. He was seated on the far left on the third row.
The official opening of the Meeting is also available on the Royal Family’s YouTube Channel.
We also checked with a photo album from the Meeting which was uploaded online by the Commonwealth Secretariat and observed that President Akufo-Addo appeared in one of the shots.
A 1 hour 42 minutes video of the Queen’s Dinner Reception as part of the meeting sees President Akufo-Addo (1:35:00 to 1:40:55) propose a toast to the Queen.
A video report by the Communications Directorate at Ghana’s Presidency (20:30 to 21:03) captures the moment President Akufo-Addo and his wife, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, shook hands with the Queen.
Conclusion
It is not true that President Akufo-Addo has never met with Queen Elizabeth II. The two met at the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Buckingham Palace in 2018.
