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Claim: Ghana’s Deputy Local Government Minister, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, claims he was misrepresented when he compared the poverty levels in the West African country to those in America.
Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s checks showed that the lawmaker was not misrepresented, as alleged in the news report published by Accra-based TV3. The version of the video interview shared on Ghana’s Local Government Ministry’s Facebook page was found to have been manipulated to remove the part where the minister made the controversial comment.
Full Text
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) recently released the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report that uncovered disparities in poverty rates nationwide.
The report revealed that out of Ghana’s total population, about 24.3% are multidimensionally poor. This means the people are deprived simultaneously in four or more poverty indicators, the GSS has said.
The MPI evaluates poverty through education, health, and living standards. This provides a comprehensive view of the simultaneous deprivations faced by individuals in a particular country.
According to the MPI, the Greater Accra region has a relatively low poverty rate of 11.7% compared to 22.5% in 2021.
Find news reports about the GSS’s release of the Multidimensional Poverty Index here, here, and here.
Reacting to a question about Ghanaians’ living standards in an interview with Accra-based 3FM, Ghana’s Local Government Minister Vincent Ekow Assafuah said over 37.5 million people live in poverty in America.
“Today, the multidimensional index that the Ghana Stat did just last when you index that with that of the US. The US has more than 37.5 million people who are living in poverty. That is even more than the total population of Ghana – who are living in poverty.
“So, people are hungry everywhere. There is poverty in Ghana, there is poverty in Burkina Faso, there is poverty in the United Kingdom [and] there is poverty in the United States of America,” the lawmaker said during the video interview, starting from minutes 20:15 to 21:08.
Hours later, TV3 News Ghana reported that the minister said the poverty levels in Ghana were far better than in the US.
“Deputy Minister for Local Government has asserted that Ghana’s poverty levels are better than what is experienced in the United States of America. In an interview with Johnnie Hughes on 3FM’s Sunrise, Ekow Vincent Assafuah claimed that per the Ghana Statistical Service’s (GSS) report, the poverty levels have reduced to 11.7% from 22.5% in 2020,” the media outlet reported on June 26, 2024.
However, the Minister has issued a statement claiming his comment had been misrepresented by Accra-based TV3.
Writing on Facebook on June 26, 2024, the lawmaker said:
“Clarifying recent statements: Economic hardships are global, not unique to Ghana. Misrepresentations can hinder productive discussions.”
Mr Assafuah’s misrepresentation claim has been widely published here, here, here, and here.
DUBAWA decided to probe the Minister’s misrepresentation claim as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation in Ghana.
Verification
DUBAWA’s investigations revealed that the lawmaker was not misrepresented, as alleged in the news report published by Accra-based TV3.
Given the Minister’s disclaimer, DUBAWA conducted a content analysis of the video interview and discovered that the version shared on the Facebook page of Ghana’s Local Government Ministry had been manipulated to edit out the part where the minister made the controversial comment.
Columbia University Irving Medical Center has defined content analysis as a “research tool used to determine the presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within some given qualitative data.” Through content analysis, researchers can quantify and analyse the presence, meanings, and relationships of such words, themes, or concepts.
By analysing the video interview, DUBAWA discovered that Ghana’s Deputy Local Government Minister, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, compared the poverty levels in the West African country to that of America.
Specifically, 21 minutes into the one-hour video interview with Accra-based 3FM, the lawyer said:
“People are hungry everywhere. There is poverty in Ghana, there is poverty in Burkina Faso, there is poverty in the United Kingdom [and] there is poverty in the United States of America.”
However, from minutes 23:37 to 24:05, the Deputy Local Government Minister made a comment that became controversial.
“But trust me, the poverty level that we have in Ghana is far, far better than what we find in the USA,” Mr Assafuah said.
Also, Accra-based TV3 Ghana has insisted that the country’s Local Government Minister, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, made the comment attributed to him.
Reacting on X (formerly Twitter), the media outlet shared a video interview clip in which the lawmaker made the controversial comment attributed to him from minutes 0:24 to 0:32.
In the short interview clip shared on X, DUBAWA discovered that the media outlet deliberately repeated the part where Ghana’s deputy minister made the controversial claim for emphasis.
Conclusion
It is not true that Accra-based TV3 misrepresented Vincent Assafuah in his comment about the poverty levels in West African countries and the US.
