Claim: There are rumours on social media that Ghana’s ex-president John Agyekum Kufuor is dead.
Verdict: False. The Senior Aide and Spokesperson of the Former President, Dr Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, has disputed the claim. He said the former Ghanaian leader is “very much alive and well.” Also, some online news portals which published the recent rumour about the purported death of Mr Kufuor have deleted their reports.
Full Text
Ghana’s social media was awash with rumours about the alleged death of the former Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor.
A section of Ghanaians took to Facebook and WhatsApp to confirm the alleged death. See the screenshot below.
Some people shared screenshots of a report from an online news portal, Nairaland, which reported about the death of Mr Kufuor. See here.
DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim because of the interest it has generated on social media.
Verification
In a press statement dated July 18, 2023, the Senior Aide and Spokesperson of the Former President, Dr Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, said the former Ghanaian leader is “very much alive and well.” See here.
“We wish to categorically deny such an occurrence and state emphatically that the former president is very much alive and well,” the statement reads.
The Office of the former President has cautioned those behind “the propagation of such wicked untruths” to desist from their acts.
DUBAWA also conducted a keyword search to discover if any reputable media organisation published the rumour. Results showed that news reports about the death of the former Ghanaian leader date back to 2012. See here, here, here, and here.
Also, some Facebook users who shared the rumour on their walls have deleted their posts. See here.
Similarly, online news portals that published the rumour have also deleted it. See here, here, and here.
Conclusion
Ghana’s former President, John Kufuor, is not dead.
The office of the former Ghanaian leader has entreated the rumour mongers to put a stop to their acts.
