Akufo-Addo

Claim: A trending video on TikTok indicates that the current president of Ghana, Nana  Akufo-Addo Dankwa, finally cancelled free SHS during the government transition.

Verdict: False. DUBAWA findings reveal that the government has not cancelled the educational policy, despite losing the Dec. 7 elections.

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A TikTok user, adepastar, claims in a video that Ghana’s current president, Nana Akufo-Addo, has cancelled the Free Senior High School policy.

The video generated discussions and comments about the policy issue of the NPP government.

“The most wicked president Ghana has ever had in our history should be this man, and I regret voting for him in 2020. May God forgive me, and thanks for showing me the light, never NPP again,” a follower commented.

“I learnt he uses some of the taxes for free SHS, so since he cancelled betting, e-levy and Covid, NDC can bring it back,” another user commented.

As of Dec. 20, 2024, the video had garnered over 28k likes with  929 comments.

DUBAWA decided to investigate the authenticity of this video, as several commenters suggested it had been manipulated.

Verification

Ghana’s Free Senior High School (SHS) policy has a fascinating history. It all began with a promise made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in their 2008 manifesto to extend guaranteed access to free quality education at the basic school level to cover second-cycle education. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that President Nana Akufo-Addo officially introduced the policy. The policy implementation commenced in September 2017, with 353,053 first-year students benefiting from the program.

The policy aimed to provide free tuition, admission fees, textbooks, library fees, science centre fees, ICT fees, examination fees, and even boarding and meals for students in public senior high schools. The government absorbed all approved fees for these students.

Interestingly, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) promised to implement a progressive free secondary education system in 2014, but the NPP ultimately implemented the policy. The Free SHS policy has significantly impacted education in Ghana, increasing enrollment rates and providing opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, there have also been challenges, including concerns about the quality of education and the program’s sustainability.

DUBAWA conducted a keyword search to find any publication by any credible media outlet suggesting the policy has been cancelled. However, as of Dec. 23, 2024, no credible media organisation had published on the policy’s cancellation. Also, the Ghana Education Service had not officially announced that the policy had been cancelled.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated in their manifestos that they would continue free SHS. The National Democratic Congress stated this on page 92 of its manifesto, and the NPP also said that they would continue with it on page 28 of their manifesto. 

Also, during NPP’s last election campaign at the University of Ghana sports park on 5th December 2024, President Akufo-Addo emphasised his commitment to maintaining the Free SHS policy. He cautioned that electing the opposition could jeopardise the programme, stating, “If you make the mistake of giving the NDC power, the free SHS will be cancelled.” 

Currently, before Parliament is a Free SHS bill that was tabled before the house for consideration. Even though there has been some objection to the bill in its current form, there is nothing to show that the policy as it is being implemented has been cancelled.

On the contrary, President-elect John Dramani Mahama has reassured Ghanaians that the Free SHS policy will continue under his administration. He stated, “Nobody is going to scrap Free SHS… We are going to maintain it. What we are going to do is get dedicated funding for it.” 

Conclusion

The Free SHS programme remains in place, and the outgoing and incoming administrations have expressed their commitment to its continuation. Therefore, the claim that Nana Akufo-Addo has cancelled the free SHS policy is false.

This report was produced under the DUBAWA “Combating Election Misinformation and Disinformation in Ghana’s 2024 Elections” Project aimed at promoting a culture of truth and verification ahead of the 2024 General Elections with support from the Federal Republic of Germany in Ghana.

 

Claim: President Akufo-Addo has asked the US to invade Burkina Faso over the presence of Wagner forces, a viral tweet has suggested.

Verdict: Misleading! Although President Akufo-Addo expressed misgivings about insurgency and the presence of the Wagner group in Burkina Faso, he did not call on the US to invade.  

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A viral tweet claims that President Akufo-Addo, in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and other officials while he was chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), urged the US to invade Burkina Faso, Ghana’s northern neighbour, over the presence of the private Russian military company Wagner.

The claim, backed by a video of a meeting between President Akufo-Addo and top US government officials, has since reached over 23,000 people.

In the last week, there has been a trend of negative sentiments against President Akufo-Addo on X (formerly Twitter). Most of the tweets, such as this and that, have described him as a “Western puppet.”

Given the diplomatic implication of this video, DUBAWA decided to investigate.

Verification

The video reference used to make the claim was from December 14, 2022, when President Akufo-Addo met US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and other US state officials on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington, DC.

In the 5 minutes long video, President Akufo-Addo is heard referencing earlier conversations about insurgencies on the continent because he is going ahead to express his discomfort with terrorism in Burkina Faso along Ghana’s northern borders.   

Below is a full transcript of what he said:

Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there. I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services. Prime Minister of Burkina Faso in the last 10 days, has been in Moscow, and to have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana. Apart from not accepting the idea of great powers once again making Africa their theatre of operation, we have a particular position that you know about over the Ukraine war, where we have been very vocal and upfront about condemning the invasion by Russia and, therefore to now have this group on our border is a matter of some considerable disquiet and concern for us. We would really like to have a privileged opportunity to talk about these implications and what we believe ought to be the case.

This is what took place during the discussion with the congress yesterday, which I found very fruitful. And we would like [that] the themes of that discussion, which should be the themes that we should continue to address. To what extent can we have you as a partner in confronting these threats? It is very important that ECOWAS and the West African area remain a democratic space. There is a reason for the actions taken over the coup d’états in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea, and ECOWAS has been very consistent in refusing to deal with these governments because of the undemocratic nature of their ascension to power.

The commitment to democratic values and institutions is a high priority for our states. We in Ghana have been through all kinds of arrangements. In past governance arrangements, one-party states, and all kinds of experiments have taken place, and our people are now very clear in their minds. And our people are not very clear in their minds. They want to go down the avenue for democratic engagement, and that is why the last 30 years of the fourth republic have been the most stable in our country’s history. We want to do everything to preserve that, but there are enemies of democracy who are working hard in West Africa today, and therefore, it is important that we bring that matter to your notice and see to what extent we can engage you as a reliable partner in the pushback of those forces.

There are other areas, of course, of great significance too, such as cooperation for economic growth and development and for making prosperity for our people, which is to some extent part and parcel of this same fight. If the young people have things to do, they are not going to be recruits for terrorist forces, so all of that is part and parcel, but specifically, what we can do about the terrorist threat in West Africa is now the major security concern of all our states, especially the coastal states. Up till now, the last six months have been relatively free of these threats, but now on all our common borders, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire are these forces that are operating there. We have to find a way to be able to respond and respond effectively to protect our populations.”

An analysis of the transcript of President Akufo-Addo’s discussion with US officials did not show him calling on the US to invade Burkina Faso. From the transcript, it is clear that President Akufo-Addo expressed dissatisfaction with incidents of terrorism, the presence of Wagner in some West African countries, and the spate of military coup d’états in West Africa and asked for US support to tackle such incidents. Nowhere within the clip did he urge the US to invade Burkina Faso.

Conclusion

Based on the video transcript, DUBAWA concludes that President Akufo-Addo did not ask the US to invade Burkina Faso over the presence of Wagner forces of insurgency in the country.   

Claim: An X user shared a video claiming that two men who confronted soldiers during the voting exercise in Obuasi East are now receiving treatment in a hospital. (Source: @RoGoat7 (X) (Archived here).

Verdict: True.

Explanation: We compared the video of the two men in a hospital with the video of the scuffle and found them to be the same people.  Although their shirts were now off, the men were still wearing the same trousers spotted in the initial video. Similarly, an unidentified man who appeared in the scuffle video was also seen with them at the hospital. The X user’s claim is, therefore, true.

Claim: New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia is giving out an instant cash prize from his campaign fund. (Source: Social Media, WhatsApp)

Verdict: Hoax

Verification

An initial attempt to access the link provided in the message triggered malware advice, indicating that the

site is malicious and that access to it could be risky.

When the Coalition ran a check on the website URL through the website credibility tool Virus Total, 10 security vendors had flagged the URL as phishing, malware and malicious.

Claim: A flyer on social media claiming  that the dollar equivalent of the National Service Scheme (NSS) allowance of ₵559 in 2016 and ₵715 in 2024 were $143.33 and $42.29, respectively.

Verdict: False

Verification

The Cedi traded at ₵4.275 to the dollar as of December 31, 2016, when the NSS monthly allowance was ₵559. Therefore, the dollar equivalent of ₵559 was $130.760 after dividing the monthly NSS allowance by ₵4.275, not $143.33. Also, the NSS allowance as of December 5, 2024, is ₵715 after it increased in July 2023. The Bank of Ghana’s exchange rate as of December 5, 2024, is $1 to  ₵14.9125. With the dollar trading at ₵14.9125, the dollar equivalent of ₵715 is $47.9463, not $42.29 as claimed.

Claim: An X user, @edemgilbert, has shared an audio in which he accuses John Mahama, the 2024 NDC flagbearer, of plotting with Electoral Commission officials to rig the election in the Ashanti region. (Source: Dr. Gilbert Edem (X.com/) (archived)

Verdict: False

Verification

There is no evidence that the voices in the audio are those of John Mahama and an Electoral Commission official in the Ashanti Region. A content analysis conducted on the audio revealed some discrepancies. In the audio, the alleged EC official was asked if he was the “Leading Returning Officer,” he responded that he was the group leader. The Electoral Commission’s organisational structure does not have a role called Leading Returning Officer. Regulation 2 of the Public Elections Regulation, 2020 (C.I. 127) provides that the Commission shall appoint Returning Officers in the various constituencies for Parliamentary elections. Also, in the audio, the alleged EC officer was asked if he had initiated the plan, and he responded “We are done with nine, and we are left with seven.” However, the Ashanti Region has 48 constituencies, not 16. Therefore, the region has 48 Returning officers. There is no evidence to support the allegations. 

Claim: A social media user, @marcusadampah, shared a video showing men in two Metro Mass buses he alleged are “macho men” the NPP brought in from Burkina Faso. (Source: X (Formerly Twitter) @marcusadampah   (archived))

Verdict: Misleading 

Verification

Our checks at the Metro Mass Transit Company showed that the two buses moved from Accra to Sefwi Asawinso in the Western North Region, not from Burkina Faso, as alleged. Reacting to the claim, the Police say their preliminary investigation revealed the men were recruited from different parts of Accra to “provide security at polling stations within some constituencies” in the region.  The Member of Parliament from Joaboso, Mintah Akandoh, who spoke to the Coalition, repeated the claim that the men were from Burkina Faso but did not give any further evidence of how he came by that information. 

Claim: An X user, @marcusadampah, alleges that the  New Patriotic Party ( NPP) has been caught with ballot papers and voter’s register as part of a plot to rig the December 7, 2024, election.

Verdict: False

Explanation

There is no evidence that the booklets in the vehicle seen in the video are ballot papers. However, an analysis of the footage showed printed copies of the voters’ register in the vehicle. Conventionally, the EC always makes the register available to the parties ahead of elections. The narration accompanying the footage mentioned “voter’s register” and not ballot papers. Also, no credible media outlet has reported the alleged claim. The precedent in Ghana is that Electoral officials, political party representatives, and police officers are responsible for transporting ballot papers to the various polling centers.

With just three days to Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition has launched a campaign to promote accurate information before, during, and after the December 7 polls.

Led by three International Fact-Checking Network signatories—Dubawa, Ghana Facts, and Fact-Check Ghana—alongside media and civic partners, the coalition will provide fact-checked reports and analyses of potentially false or misleading claims shared by political actors and their allies.

From 4–11 December, the coalition aims to empower citizens with verified information to counter disinformation. This report highlights claims fact-checked on day one.

Claim 1 : An X user, @OfficialBigkay, claims an NDC supporter had cut off the thumb of an NPP member in Bolgatanga.

Verdict: Misleading

Verification

Our findings reveal that a man’s thumb was cut off following an altercation with another person. However, the incident had nothing to do with the two leading political parties, NDC and NPP. Checks by the Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition indicate the incident occurred in Prestea in the Prestea-Huni Valley District of the Western region, not in Bolgatanga

Claim 2: Multiple sources say the 2024 NDC flagbearer, John Mahama, won the Special voting exercise conducted on December 2, 2024. 

Verdict: False

Explanation

The ballots cast during the Special Voting exercise have yet to be counted. The Electoral Commission has explained that the Special Voting ballots will be counted at the various Constituency Collation Centres after the polls close on December 7, 2024. Also, Regulation 23 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127) provides that after the Special Voting exercise, the returning officer shall “ensure that the ballot boxes are kept in safe custody after the poll has closed.” 

Claim 3: A viral TikTok audio allegedly features Mahamudu Bawumia, NPP presidential candidate, calling Ghanaians weak-minded and promising to deceive them into winning the upcoming election.

Verdict: False.

Explanation

The Ghana Fact-checking Coalition compared the viral TikTok audio to five of Mr Bawumia’s past YouTube speeches and it revealed significant discrepancies. The audio features unnatural pitch variations and a polished accent that diverges from his typical speaking style, suggesting manipulation. The Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector tool also rated the audio as 80 per cent likely to be a deepfake. Experts from the Ghana Fact-checking Coalition concluded that the audio likely stems from voice-cloning technology, such as Resemble AI, which can generate synthetic speech from text scripts.

A Communication team member of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party, Dr. Ishaq Ibrahim, has appealed to Ghanaians to keep faith with the government despite the economic challenges.

Participating in a political discussion on Accra-based TV3, the lecturer said President Nana Akufo-Addo had outperformed ex-President John Mahama in managing the Ghanaian economy.

“Despite that we had these problems [COVID-19], we still did better than the last administration that John Mahama led. John Mahama left when he had taken us to the IMF. The inflation rate was about 14%, and when we came to power, the NPP immediately brought it down to 7%. It was 7% before COVID-19 hit us, so you check it,” the private legal practitioner said.

For Dr Ibrahim’s comment, see minutes 0:49 to 1:30 of the video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Accra-based TV 3.

DUBAWA has fact-checked the law lecturer’s claims about Mr Mahama, COVID-19, and the Ghanaian inflation rate.

Claim 1: Dr. Ishaq Ibrahim, a member of Ghana’s governing NPP communication team, has alleged that ex-President John Mahama handed over when the country’s inflation was about 14%.

Verdict: False! DUBAWA’s investigation showed that Ghana’s inflation on Dec. 31, 2016, days after Mr Mahama had lost his re-election bid, was not “about 14%,” as Dr Ibrahim claimed. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)’s Statistical Bulletin, released on Jan. 11, 2017, revealed the country’s inflation in Dec. 2016 was 15.4%, down by 0.1% from 15.5% recorded in Nov. 2016.  Also, World Bank data pegged the country’s inflation as of Dec. 31, 2016, at 17.5%.

Verification

DUBAWA’s research revealed that Ghana’s inflation as of Dec. 31, 2016, days after Mr Mahama had lost his re-election bid, was not “about 14%,” as Dr Ibrahim claimed.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)’s Statistical Bulletin, released on Jan. 11, 2017, showed the country’s inflation in Dec. 2016 was 15.4%, down by 0.1% from 15.5% recorded in Nov. 2016. 

The GSS explained, “This rate of inflation for December 2016 is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the twelve months, from December 2015 to December 2016.”

Also, World Bank data published on its website pegged the West African country’s inflation at 17.5% as of Dec. 31, 2016. 

The global body has disclosed it computed Ghana’s inflation data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Financial Statistics, and other data files.

Conclusion

As of Jan. 7, 2017, when ex-President John Mahama handed over to President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s inflation was not “about 14%,” as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim claimed. The GSS revealed the country’s inflation was 15.4%.

Claim 2: Dr Ishaq Ibrahim, also alleged that President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government “immediately” brought down the country’s inflation to 7% when it took office.

Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s checks with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) showed that President Nana Akufo-Addo did not “immediately” bring down the country’s inflation to 7%, as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim alleged.  The GSS revealed that Ghana’s inflation was 11.8% as of Dec. 31, 2017, 9.4% as of Dec. 31, 2018, and 7.9% as of Dec. 2019. Also, World Bank data disclosed the country’s inflation was 12.4% as of Dec. 2017, 7.8% as of Dec. 2018, and 7.1% as of Dec. 2019.

Verification

DUBAWA’s investigation disclosed that President Nana Akufo-Addo did not “immediately” bring down the country’s inflation to 7%, as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim alleged. 

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed that Ghana’s inflation was 11.8% as of Dec. 31, 2017, 9.4% as of Dec. 31, 2018, and 7.9% as of Dec. 2019.

Although the West African country recorded single-digit inflation in 2018 and 2019, no data points to a 7% inflation in Ghana “immediately” after President Nana Akufo-Addo took office.

Also, World Bank data disclosed that the country’s inflation was 12.4% as of Dec. 2017, 7.8% as of Dec. 2018, and 7.1% as of Dec. 2019.

The World Bank data culled from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Financial Statistics, and other data files showed Ghana recorded single-digit inflation in 2018 and 2019.

Conclusion

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government did not “immediately” bring down the country’s inflation to 7%, as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim alleged.

Claim 3: A communication team member of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) claims Ghana’s inflation was 7% when it recorded its first COVID-19 case.

Verdict: False. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) data revealed Ghana’s inflation rate was 7.8% at the end of February 2020. The West African country recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 12, 2020, barely three months into the new year. Therefore, the country’s latest inflation rate was the data the GSS published on Mar. 11, 2020, which disclosed a 7.8% inflation rate.

Verification

DUBAWA’s investigations showed Ghana’s inflation rate was not 7% when it recorded its first COVID-19 case, as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim claimed. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) data revealed the country’s inflation rate was 7.8% at the end of Feb. 2020.

The West African country recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 12, 2020, barely three months into the new year.

See the country’s Ministry of Health press release confirming the first two COVID-19 cases recorded here.

Therefore, Ghana’s latest inflation rate when it detected its first virus cases was 7.8%, as disclosed in the GSS data published on Mar. 11, 2020.

Conclusion

Ghana’s inflation was not 7% when it recorded its first COVID-19 cases, as Dr Ishaq Ibrahim alleged. The GSS data revealed the country’s inflation was 7.8% at the end of Feb. 2020 in a report published on Mar. 11, 2020, barely a day after its first virus cases were detected.