Claim: A Facebook user, Israel Korku Amudzi, has shared a video claiming that a television station in the United Kingdom discussed John Mahama’s 24-hour economy policy.
Verdict: False. While the discussion mentioned a 24-hour economy, it was not specifically centered on Ghana or John Mahama’s policy. Instead, the focus was on how London, in the United Kingdom, adopted a 24-hour nightlife model eight years ago to boost businesses.
Full Text
A Facebook user, Israel Korku Amudzi, has claimed that a TV station in the United Kingdom has discussed John Mahama’s 24-hour economy on its channel. The post’s caption reads, “John Mahama’s 24-hour economy is being discussed in the United Kingdom.” The claim has garnered close to 2,000 shares and over 1,000 views on Facebook.
Below is the short conversation from the clip as published by the user.
Interviewee: Our research indicates that we are getting towards 100,000 in the next few years, and if the 24-hour economy takes off and if you look at the indirect jobs it will create, you can get up to 1.2 million.
Interviewer: It is a very big growth in terms of trade figures. In terms of some estimates, it can go up another three to four billion dollars over the next few years, but let’s talk about…
This short clip posted by the user creates the impression that the news was centred on John Mahama’s 24-hour economy. As a result, DUBAWA decided to look into it as the campaign season heats up towards the 2024 general elections.
Verification
DUBAWA’s verification sought whether the programme addressed John Mahama’s 24-hour economy policy. However, checks using key attributes of the video, including its title, “Insight: The World’s 24-Hour Cities,” revealed this was not the case. Additionally, the footage is not current. It was sourced from TRT World, a news platform, and was originally published eight years ago, on Sept. 13, 2016.
However, DUBAWA also listened to the entire video and discovered that their discussion was not centred on John Mahama’s 24-hour economy. The portion cut and published by the user was from 5 minutes 54 seconds to 6 minutes-26 seconds.
Our investigation revealed that the news item focused on London’s transition to a 24-hour nightlife economy in the United Kingdom. John Mahama’s 24-hour economy policy had not yet been introduced; it only surfaced in the lead-up to the 2024 general elections.
The person featured in the video is Caroline Artis, an advisor to various night-time businesses in London. While she did discuss the potential of the 24-hour economy to create indirect jobs and boost economic growth, her remarks were in the context of London’s nightlife, not Ghana’s policy framework.
Conclusion
The claim that a UK TV station discussed John Mahama’s 24-hour economy is false. DUBAWA’s investigation revealed that the video in question, sourced from TRT World in 2016, focused on London’s 24-hour nightlife economy. It had no connection to John Mahama’s policy, which only emerged ahead of Ghana’s 2024 elections. The video was misrepresented, with the remarks attributed to London’s nightlife economy advisor, Caroline Artis, taken out of context.
