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Claim: A viral video on Facebook suggests that former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia admitted that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has “failed” across key economic indicators, including GDP growth, agriculture, industry, exchange rate, and fiscal balances.
Verdict: False! Investigations by DUBAWA indicate that the video is false and manipulated, achieved by omitting critical context, replacing key phrases, and rearranging speech segments.
Full Text
A video circulating on Facebook (archived here) claims that Vice President and NPP flagbearer aspirant Dr Mahamudu Bawumia described his own government as a “failed government” across several economic indicators.
In the shared clip, Bawumia appears to say, “NPP is a failed government… if you look at all the data… GDP growth… agricultural growth… industry growth… we have failed… the exchange rate… we have failed…”
DUBAWA decided to fact-check this claim because manipulated political content, especially when it involves economic data, can significantly distort public understanding and influence electoral discourse.
By removing key qualifiers and reversing statements, the edited video misleads viewers into believing the former Vice President admitted policy failure, when the original speech argues the opposite.
Verification
DUBAWA traced the video’s source to a speech delivered by Bawumia on November 28, 2024, which was posted on his official social media platforms.
A review of the full, unedited transcript shows that the viral clip has been selectively edited and manipulated, removing key contextual phrases that completely alter the meaning of his remarks.
What Bawumia actually said
Contrary to the viral claim, Bawumia did not say the NPP had failed. Instead, he argued that the NPP had outperformed the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) across several economic indicators.
In the original speech, he stated: “When it comes to the economy… overall GDP growth during your government is lower than ours. We have performed better than you.”
He repeated this position across multiple indicators:
- Agricultural growth: “We have performed better than you”
- Industry growth: “We have performed better than you”
- Budget deficit to GDP: “We have performed better than you”
- Current account balance: “We have performed better than you”
- Gross international reserves: “We have performed better than you”
How the video was manipulated
The viral clip omits the phrase “we have performed better than you” and, through editing or splicing, replaces it with “we have failed.”
This creates a false narrative that reverses the meaning of the original speech.
Additionally, parts of the speech were rearranged, making it appear as though Bawumia was criticising his own government, when in fact he was responding to criticism from John Dramani Mahama.
Context on exchange rate claim
In the original speech, Bawumia addressed exchange rate performance by comparing depreciation rates, “Under the NDC… the cedi depreciated by 74%… Under the NPP… we have depreciated the cedi by 72%… which is lower…”
This comparative argument was also distorted in the viral version to suggest admission of failure.
Conclusion
The claim that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia described the NPP government as a “failed government” is false. This case highlights a growing trend of selective editing and misinformation in political communication.
