Claim: A video has gone viral on TikTok and Facebook in which Ex-president John Dramani Mahama is heard telling voters they will take people’s mobile money numbers and send them GHC500.
Verdict: Misleading! DUBAWA’s investigations revealed that the video had been framed and edited to paint a false narrative of an ex-president buying votes.
Full Text
On Dec 7, 2024, Ghanaians will go to the polls to elect the sixth President of Ghana’s fourth republic and Members of Parliament. As a result, political parties are touring the country, hosting rallies to draw voters into their various camps.
A trending video on TikTok and Facebook features ex-President John Dramani Mahama, former president and flag bearer for the NDC, promising to send GHS 500 into people’s mobile money accounts. This video clip was from his recent community engagement event at Zambrama Lorry Park in the Bono East Region of Ghana.
The video posted on TikTok and Facebook is captioned “y3 b3 mani mu 500 cedis—John Mahama,” which translates to English as “we will send you 500 cedis.” The clipped video has amassed almost 500,000 views on TikTok alone.
With Ghana’s laws frowning on vote buying, DUBAWA decided to investigate this claim.
Verification
The researcher first searched for the full video. A search on John Mahama’s verified Facebook account revealed a 20 minutes-3 seconds long video captioned, “Community engagement at Zambrama lorry park.”
The video was streamed live on Sept 3, 2024. In the video, the ex-president addresses a crowd on Twi.
A careful study of the video’s content revealed that former President Mahama did not mean to send people GHC500 on their mobile money accounts, as the clipped and edited video claims. The exact comment was found from 15:30 to 17:04.
During his community engagement at Zambrama Lorry Park, John Dramani Mahama said, in Akan, which is translated as follows: “I know when it’s time to vote, they will come and share money. They will come and take your momo number. They will send you [GHC] 500, 500, 500.
“When that time comes, and the NPP asks for your MOMO number, give it to them. When they bring that money, don’t reject it, take it and spend it. Did you hear what happened in Assin North? They gave everyone with a voter’s ID [GHC]200 200. The people of Assin North took the money, but on the day of the election, they voted for the truth.
“That is what you should also do. The money they will be sharing is your own money because they have made a lot of money over the last eight years of their rule. So they will share money to try to buy your vote. Take it, but on election day, vote for the truth, and I believe the truth lies with the NDC. Vote for the NDC.”
DUBAWA discovered that the introduction and conclusion of the subject of vote buying John Mahama alluded to in his address were trimmed off to present a different narrative. This was possible because John Mahama, while referring to his political opponents, used the akan word ‘y3’, which, depending on what context it is used in, translates to ‘we’ or ‘they.’
Conclusion
Based on DUBAWA’s investigations, the video circulating that John Dramani Mahama said he would give every Ghanaian GHC500 on their mobile money is misleading.
Source: Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition