Claim: Multiple accounts on social media have shared a fact card claiming former Energy Minister and running mate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has called the Ga and Ewe tribes as Ghana’s problem, adding that, they should have never been part of the country.
Verdict:
False! Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has not made such a statement. An advanced google image search by DUBAWA reveals, no credible media house has published the story. Kapital Radio’s manager Korsi Asiseh has asked Ghanaians to disregard any viral political fact card which cannot be found on their website.
Full-Text
Multiple accounts on social media have shared a viral postcard with a photo of Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh tagging the Ga and Ewe ethnic tribes as those who are causing the majority of problems in Ghana.
Bearing the theme, tags and digital stamps purporting to be that of Kapital Radio 97.1 FM, it read: “Ga and Ewes are Ghana’s problem. Historically, they shouldn’t have been part of Ghana”
DUBAWA’s research, however, revealed that popular media influencer social media user @dejoh36 with the name Gideon, with over 12,000 followers, was the first to put out the postcard on October 27, 2024, at 07:44 PM on X (formerly Twitter).
With the fact card posted on his page, Gideon had garnered over 78,900 views, 239 comments, and 286 retweets including 2,200 likes as of October 28, 2024.
A day after he shared the post, Gideon, who describes himself as a Twitter Democrat, had many believing the post card. DUBAWA had to investigate since it had the potential to mislead.
Reacting to the post, an X user, ‘always_your_highness’ with handle @hishighnessssss replied on October 28, 2024:
“That’s not what we are talking about here. What does Ga and Ewe got to do with fixing the country? With all due respect, this statement sounds unnecessary. Let’s normalize discussing innovative topics. The statement from this man is a drop in the bucket”
Additionally, one X user, The Ronaldo Era with the handle @DerbyWinnings also had this comment to make on October 28, 2024:
“This is the reason why Ghana’s problems are real problems because, the Ashanti’s think they are better than any tribe in Ghana, tbh these two tribes are the ones that are more truthful than these guys but I guess we aren’t prepared to have this convo yet.”
Another X user, Renato with handle @xie_rwy, who didn’t know what to believe about the post card said: “Charlie this is below belt, I’m not sure he actually said this. Let focus on selling our candidate than resorting to the NPP’s kind of politics.”
Meanwhile, other platforms equally shared the post card on X, and they can be found here, here and here, It can also be seen on Meta’s platform Threads, here.
Verification
DUBAWA’s investigation showed that Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the running mate to New Patriotic Party’s Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, hasn’t made such tribal statement on his campaign tours ahead of the December 7 elections.
The media outlet’s Managing Director, Korsi Asiseh, maintained on their website that controversial political stories on flyers purportedly created by them are false and charged readers to always cross-check on their website to see if that story is there.
DUBAWA checked the website and also screened every recent social media post on Kapital Radio platforms, but the flier or postcard in question could not be found on any of their official pages.
“Beware of fake flyers circulating about our website putting up political stories,” he cautioned the public.
The findings of DUBAWA’s Google keyword search revealed that no reputable media organisation in the West African country has reported on Napo’s alleged comment.
Meanwhile, DUBAWA later contacted the originator of the post on X, @dejoh36 with the name Gideon, who shared the flier to find out his source, but he is yet to respond to the inquiry.
Conclusion
Former Energy Minister and running mate to New Patriotic Party’s Presidential Candidate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has not made any tribal statement accusing two of the popular ethnic tribes, Ga and Ewes, as those causing problems in the country.