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Claim: Kapital Radio published false claims misrepresenting key politicians before the December 7 elections.
Verdict: False! DUBAWA’s verifications show that Kapital Radio did not produce or publish the flyers. Kapital Radio’s management has called these publications fake and warned the public to be wary of them.
Full Text
In the lead-up to the just-ended December 7 election, several politically affiliated social media accounts surfaced on TikTok and Facebook. In addition to campaign materials, these pages also posted questionable news flyers believed to have been published by various media houses.
DUBAWA took note of a series of news flyers, particularly claiming that notable figures in the NDC have made some politically damning remarks. Some of these were attributed to former president John Mahama, see here and here; his running mate, Prof Opoku Agyeman, is seen here, and other notable figures are seen here and here.
In our effort to contribute to safeguarding the integrity of Ghana’s election, DUBAWA investigated these claims.
Verification
The researcher sought other news sites that may have also reported these claims attributed to various political figures. It was discovered that although these posts had garnered thousands of views, likes, and shares on TikTok and Facebook, no media house had reported on the claims.
A further search for any such quote from the persons mentioned revealed that Professor Opoku Agyeman had debunked the claim on her official Facebook page.
DUBAWA’s investigation revealed that Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah’s most recent media engagement ahead of the elections, reported by major media outlets, does not record him commenting on citizens’ perceptions of John Mahama as one of these Kapital Radio branded the fliers suggest. Brigadier Nunoo Mensah (retired) spoke to the claim on Lawson TV and clarified that he had made no such statement.
The researcher contacted Korsi Asiseh, a Managing Director of Kapital Radio, who clarified that the flyers circulating were not from Kapital Radio. He said,
“Those flyers are not from us, and the political stories on them are not even true. They are all for political propaganda.”
Kapital Radio has published a flyer on its official Facebook page (Kapital Radio 97.1 fm), warning the general public to beware of the ‘fake flyers’ circulating in the media.
Conclusion
Based on DUBAWA’s investigations, the Kapital Radio flyers of political stories circulating on social media are false news created to impersonate Kapital Radio.
