Claim: A viral video shows the Akufo-Addo government smuggling boxes of gold out of the country.
Verdict: False. Using reverse image searches, DUBAWA found that the viral video was not from Ghana.
Full Text
Different Facebook posts like this, this, and this are accusing the Akufo-Addo government of attempting to smuggle boxes of gold bars out of the country before leaving office.
The caption for one of the videos is: “No wonder Akufo Addo said ‘y3 ti sika so nansu 3kom di yen’ [amidst plenty we are hungry] So one black man steal all this gold from us Aswear Akufo Addo has to be arrested at.”
The claim and video (1 minute 30 seconds long) which began circulating on January 6, 2025, have been watched more than 450,000 times on Facebook alone.
They are being shared amidst allegations of illegal last-minute deals undertaken by the immediate past government before the January 7, 2025, inauguration of John Mahama. Among similar allegations made within the last three weeks is the claim of over 10,000 bags of stolen government fertilisers hidden in an uncompleted building at Sokoban in the Ashanti Region. It was said to be hidden by an appointee of the Akufo-Addo government, and an additional 3,000 bags that were seized at Agogo in the same region.
More recently, another claim was made that the Akufo-Addo administration was seen smuggling gold bars out of the country just a few days before leaving office. The Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), the state agency responsible for granting permits to individuals seeking to trade in gold and other precious minerals in Ghana, denied that the intercepted gold was being smuggled. DUBAWA could not immediately ascertain the veracity of the claim. However, NDC has maintained a strong belief that the immediate past Akufo-Addo administration engaged in many untoward activities in the dying days of the government’s exit from office.
This prompted DUBAWA to investigate the recent viral video alleging another attempt to smuggle gold.
Verification
DUBAWA’s analysis of the video found that the individuals in it spoke French rather than English, Ghana’s official language. This indicates the possibility of the video being produced in another country.
Subsequently, InVid video verification was used to generate relevant keyframes from the video for reverse image searches. A series of reverse image searches showed the video already exists online. Bonasgold, a Cameroon-based company claiming to be a gold purchaser, posted a copy on December 16, 2024, and posted the video on the company’s Instagram page.
An advanced search on Facebook using keywords such as “gold,” “Africa,” and “smuggling” turned up results that included a much older copy of the video.
The video was posted in August 2019 with the caption, “Oh Africa, Leaders, why!!! Congo President, why !!!” This version of the video is 3 minutes and 4 seconds long. It is uncertain which country the video was shot in, but it is clear that it was not taken in Ghana and had no connection to Ghana.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence collected by DUBAWA, the claim that President Akufo-Addo’s government attempted to smuggle out gold bars is false. The video dates from 2019 and was not taken in Ghana.