Claim: Social media users claim that the National Democratic Congress intends to dismiss all personnel recruited into various national security agencies since 2017. They are backing their claim with a 30-second video featuring the National Communications Director of the party, Sammy Gyamfi.
Verdict: This is false. The clip being shared to back the claim is from 2020. Apart from that, Sammy Gyamfi’s comment was about persons he described as ‘NPP hoodlums and bandits’ in state security services, and not all security personnel have been employed since 2017.
Full Text
A 30-second clip featuring the National Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, has gone viral online.
In the video, Mr Gyamfi cautioned some national security operatives, saying that their careers in their respective agencies were “co-terminus with President Akufo-Addo.”
“We are telling the police officers there [that] they are making their police and military careers co-terminus with that of President Akufo-Addo. The day President Akufo-Addo will exit office will be the last day they will serve as policemen and military men and we will deal with them mercilessly,” Sammy Gyamfi said.
Some social media users shared the video claiming that the warning was for all personnel recruited to the various national security agencies since Akufo-Addo was elected president in 2017.
Collage of posts from users making the claim
Some of these posts can be found here, here, here, and here.
These users also share news cards with the logos of various local news portals to support their claims and videos.
DUBAWA Ghana investigated the origin of the video to understand the context of his statement.
Verification
To investigate this claim, DUBAWA first visited the Joy News brands to see if they had, in the recent past, reported any story about Sammy Gyamfi threatening to sack all security personnel employed by the government since 2017 if the NDC wins power
The researcher did not find any recent report on Sammy Gyamfi’s threat. The closest the researcher found on the topic under discussion is a May 20, 2024, interview Sammy Gyamfi had with Elton John Brobbey on the Pulse programme on Joy News. Even though the interview was on recruitment into the security services, at no point did Sammy Gyamfi threaten to sack all security personnel employed since 2017.
The researcher also found a disclaimer issued by both the Accra-based Joy News organisation and then by Sammy Gyamfi on the matter.
A screenshot of Joy News indicates that they did not create the news card.
Source of 30 seconds video
Through a keyword search, DUBAWA found a longer version of the video on YouTube, posted by UTV Ghana Online on July 22, 2020. At the time, there were reported incidents of violence at some voter registration centres across the country.
The video was in 2020 before the December election of that year and not a recent comment by Sammy Gyamfi ahead of the 2024 election. It is therefore misleading for anyone to suggest the comment was made in anticipation of the 2024 election.
In further analysis of the video, it is observed that Sammy Gyamfi referred to individuals recruited into various national security agencies alleged to be pro-NPP operatives. He called these persons “NPP hoodlums and bandits.”
These were the persons that Sammy Gyamfi said the NDC would “fish out” and “deal drastically with” should the New Patriotic Party exit office.
A transcript from the statement from Sammy Gyamfi is as follows: (from minute 4:26 – 8:06)
“We have also cautioned members of our security agencies who still have their conscience intact and are not happy with what is happening that they must rise and be counted. This is the time for them to act.
“Today the Ghana armed focus is being bastardized, as for the police, they have been rendered useless by this government which has bastardized all state security agencies. But there are good people there, and I dare say that the good people there are in the majority. That is why we are appealing to their conscience that people are giving the institution you belong to a bad name and this is the time to act.”
“As for the NPP hoodlums and bandits and their collaborators in our state security agencies, power is transient, December 7 is not far. The next NDC government will fish all of them out including the policemen in uniform.”
“We will fish all of them out and deal with them drastically including the men in army and police uniforms.”
“We are telling the police officers there that they are making their police career, they are making their career in the military, that respected state security agency co-terminus with that of President Akufo-Addo. The day President Akufo-Addo will exit office will be the last day they will serve as policemen and military men and we will deal with them mercilessly.” (7:40 – 8:06)
Conclusion
The clip circulated ahead of the 2020 elections, not the 2024. Again, the short video does not provide the context within which Sammy Gyamfi made the statement. His warning that security operatives will be dealt with when the NDC assumes office was directed to pro-NPP personnel perpetrating violence, not all officers recruited since 2017.
