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Claim: Several social media users shared an image claiming that Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Ghana’s chief justice, was invited as a special guest of honour at Jerry Rawlings’ 79th birthday commemoration.
Verdict: False. The original promotional flyer shared by event organisers did not include the Chief Justice or hints of his invitation. The flyer has been digitally altered to include the chief justice’s image. There is no official source that confirms this inclusion.
Full Text
On June 16, 2026, a post published on the official Facebook page of Ghana’s late former President Jerry John Rawlings (archived here) announced that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), together with the J.J. Rawlings Foundation, would commemorate his 79th birthday on June 22, 2026.
The posthumous celebration will feature a lecture and exhibition in his honour as the founder of the NDC party.
The announcement was accompanied by a flyer listing four photographs of personalities, including that of the late president.
Hours later, P.K. Sarpong, a Facebook user, shared a flyer purported to be the same as the one published by the former president’s official page.
DUBAWA observed that the shared flyer contains inconsistent details with the version previously published by the Rawlings Foundation and the organisers.
The circulating version featured a photograph claiming that the country’s chief justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, was listed as a special guest of honour.
It also included the label “National Democratic Congress” beneath his designation.
The flyer (archived here) was accompanied by the caption, “Paul Baffoe-Bonnie! Jesus Christ!!! He loves the party to a fault. May God deal with all those who conspired to remove Gertrude Torkornoo for absolutely nothing.”
During the same period, Mr Irish, an X user, published the same flyer, which has over 60,000 views and over 40 comments, as of June 20, 2026.
The post has been circulating across Facebook and X, as seen here, here, and here, amplifying traction around the purported inclusion of the Chief Justice in the event.
An X user, Qweku Boako, reacting to the post said, “When you do these things, and we tell you that you targeted someone, removed her for another person, ah, you say what?”
Another user, Kwame Antwi, said, “This Chief Justice de3 don’t be surprised if you see him at Sheriff Mahama’s birthday Party.”
This leaves a questionable impression, prompting DUBAWA to authenticate the two flyers.
Verification
A review of coverage published by Ghana’s state broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), found no reference to the invitation of the Chief Justice as a special guest of honour.
The same publication has been widely shared by credible national news sources here, here, and here.
Additionally, DUBAWA reviewed a subsequent public invitation published on June 18, 2026, on the official Facebook page of Ghana’s late former President Jerry John Rawlings. Although the post invited the general public, it made no mention of the Chief Justice and did not include him in the accompanying publicity flyer.
Checks on the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) official communication channels here and here found no announcement indicating that the Chief Justice had been invited or listed to speak at the event. In a release shared by the party, invited dignitaries were referenced. Contrary to the viral flyer, the Chief Justice was not included on the list.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Services of Ghana announced that Paul Baffoe-Bonnie departed for Canada on June 19, 2026, without indicating a return date.
DUBAWA subjected the viral flyers to a digital forensic review using ZeroGPT, an image-analysis tool, to determine their authenticity. The circulating flyer with the Chief Justice’s image is likely an altered version, as it is only 57% real.
Result of the digital forensic analysis on the letter. Source: ZeroGPT
Meanwhile, the authenticity confidence score for the version without the Chief Justice’s image was 97%.
Result of the digital forensic analysis on the letter. Source: ZeroGPT
DUBAWA also conducted error-level analysis and metadata screening using the Fake Image Detector, which highlighted irregular compression patterns and modifications in the version containing the Chief Justice’s image.
Result of the error level analysis on the letter. Source: Fake Image Detector
DUBAWA contacted the Rawlings Foundation, which also rejected the claim of any booked attendance of the Chief Justice. The foundation’s head of public affairs, Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, said, “Someone mischievously inserted the CJ.”
Conclusion
The viral flyer is an altered version of the copy shared by event organisers and party leadership. Paul Baffoe Bonnie was not invited as an honoured guest, and he is not the chief justice of the NDC. DUBAWA’s independent digital forensic screening reveals consistent image alterations and digital manipulations with malicious intent.
This report was produced under the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and OSINT Fellowship, co-hosted by DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC), with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
