Claim: Social media users are sharing a video of former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, in which she was lamenting harsh economic conditions in the country.
False! The video is not recent. It has been in circulation at least since 2016.
Full Text
Social media users are sharing a clip of the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, in which she decried the state of the economy.
In the 30-seconds clip, the leader of the National Democratic Party said that Ghanaians were struggling to make ends meet.
“My fellow Ghanaians, life is tough. Things are hard, in fact, life is really rough. Things are so difficult that it is not easy for the ordinary man to survive. In fact, things are so tough that it is not making it easy for men and women to survive in this economy,” she said in the video.
These can be found here, here, and here.
A leading website in Ghana, yen.com.gh has also made a publication headlined “Nana Konadu Rawlings complains about tough economy in Ghana in video”
Verification
To authenticate the video, DUBAWA did a Facebook search and several videos of and about the former first lady came up.
In November 2021, a page with 233K followers, NDC WEB, uploaded a longer version of the video (4:24). It captioned the video as “Flashback: This is how Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings campaigned AGAINST John Dramani Mahama and the NDC in 2016.” The first 30-seconds of the video is the same as what is being circulated online as her criticism of the current Akufo-Addo-government.
In October 2018, another Facebook page, Pab-Mc Gh, uploaded the 30-seconds clip.
In June 2016, another page, Dedicated Youth Of NPP, uploaded a much longer version of the video (5:59). After raising several concerns, particularly with the government’s handling of the country’s energy situation, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings asked for the National Democratic Congress to be voted out of office between minutes 4:25 – 4:34.
“For just this alone, we must vote NDC out. Ghanaians, vote them out. So all of us, women, men, the youth, rich, poor, let us come together and bring our voices out on this issue. Do not sit on the fence, the fence is going to break if you sit on the fence. Let us all make our voices heard clearly on things that are going on that are not helping any of us. Let us speak against the ills of this country,” she said in the video.
Considering the fact that Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings contested in the 2016 Presidential election on the ticket of the National Democratic Party, it is likely that the video was created in that year as part of the campaign activities of the party.
Conclusion
The video being circulated is not recent. It dates back to 2016 and cannot be said to be a criticism of the current administration’s handling of the economy
