Claim: A Facebook user claims Dr Kwabena Duffuor Jnr, son of Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana and a 2024 Presidential candidate aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has endorsed his father’s political rival, ex-President John Mahama, ahead of the party’s presidential primaries in May 2023.
Verdict: False. Dr Kwabena Duffuor Jnr has denied the claim in a press release dated April 28, 2023. The Spokesperson of the Dr Kwabena Duffuor 2024 Campaign Team, Antonio Edem Asinyo, has told DUBAWA the son of the former Finance Minister will not support any presidential candidate aspirant as long as his father is still in the race.
Full Text
Ghana’s largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) heads to the polls on May 13, 2023, to elect a Presidential candidate to lead the party into the 2024 General Elections scheduled for December 7.
Currently, two candidates are up against ex-President John Dramani Mahama for the flagbearer position of the NDC. They are Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a former Minister of Finance and Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
A fourth candidate, businessman Ernest Kwaku Kobeah, stepped down days after he filed his nomination and paid the filing fees of GHS500,000. He has since declared his unflinching support for ex-President John Mahama.
“You have a right to decide, so I decided to support the old boy [Mr Mahama], and that is the best decision for the party and myself. All my brothers, family, and supporters are happy that I took that decision,” he told the media.
Mr Mahama has welcomed the support of Mr Kobeah.
“…your magnanimity in offering me your support to lead our great party, the NDC, to the 2024 elections. Your decision to step down from the contest, even after paying in full the filing fees pegged for the contest, is exemplary,” Mr Mahama posted on Facebook.
All three candidates aspiring to lead the NDC have been vetted and approved by the party’s Vetting Committee to participate in the crucial May 13, 2023, presidential primaries.
With barely 15 days to the much-anticipated presidential primaries of the National Democratic Congress, a Facebook user says Dr Kwabena Duffuor Jnr, a 2024 Parliamentary candidate aspirant for the Sekyere Afram Plains constituency in the Ashanti Region, has endorsed his father’s closest political rival ex-President John Mahama.
The claim appears to have been reinforced by fliers and banners bearing the images of Dr Duffuor Jnr and ex-President Mahama who are making the rounds on Facebook. See here, here, here, here, and here.
DUBAWA undertook to probe this claim because of its impact on Mahama’s campaign if it is true.
Verification
In investigating the claim, DUBAWA contacted the Duffour Campaign team and ex-President John Mahama’s Campaign team to conduct a keyword search to see if there was readily available data on the subject.
The Campaign team of Dr Kwabena Duffuor Jnr has denied the claim that he has endorsed ex-President Mahama.
“I want to emphasise that I have not, and will not have, a poster of mine with the picture of any aspiring flagbearer,” a statement issued and signed by Dr Kwabena Duffuor II reads. “I want to make it clear that I have not authorised or endorsed any poster featuring a picture of myself alongside any aspiring Flagbearer,” the statement added.
Also, the Spokesperson of the Dr Kwabena Duffour 2024 Campaign Team, Antonio Edem Asinyo, told DUBAWA the son of the former Governor of Ghana’s Central Bank had not endorsed the ex-President as speculated. “It’s fake news,” he said.
Mr Edem Asinyo described the flier and banner making the rounds on Facebook as the work of political opponents designed to undermine the positive impact the campaign team of the former Finance Minister is having on the lives of party delegates.
Similarly, DUBAWA contacted the campaign team of ex-President John Mahama to find out if they had received any form of endorsement from Dr Kwabena Duffour Jnr as claimed.
The Deputy Spokesperson of the John Mahama campaign, Beatrice Annan, told DUBAWA she could not readily confirm the claim.
DUBAWA further visited the social media accounts of key Dr Duffuor Campaign Team members, who were among the first to share the flier announcing the banker’s interest in leading the NDC in the Sekyere Afram Plains Constituency as a Parliamentary candidate. However, the flyer purportedly endorsing ex-President John Mahama was not found on their Facebook walls.
It is, therefore, untrue for anyone to claim that Dr Kwabena Duffuor Jnr has endorsed ex-President John Mahama, a political rival of his father, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, who is equally gunning for the position of the flagbearer of the opposition NDC.
Conclusion
Dr Kwabena Duffour Jnr is committed to his 2024 Parliamentary ambition as he battles his uncle and another candidate for the position in the Sekyere Afram Plains Constituency in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
With his father still in the race to become the NDC 2024 Presidential candidate, Dr Duffour Jnr has said he “will not have his image” alongside anyone aspiring to lead the party.
