The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police is on a manhunt for people believed to be behind a video in circulation about some military men allegedly sent to Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, to help enforce the partial lockdown of the city imposed by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
In the video, the soldiers could be seen in their numbers either standing or lying on the streets upon their arrival.
Speaking in the video, one of the soldiers indicated that they had arrived in the city to enforce the directive of the president.
He warned that anybody who was thinking of breaching the lockdown by stepping out unnecessarily should have a rethink because they (soldiers) will not hesitate to discipline them.
But, reacting to the alleged video on Joy News’ ‘The Lockdown’ show on Sunday, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the video in circulation about the military men singing and jogging is fake and therefore urged the public not to panic.
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He said though the video footage is real, the video was taken when some military men had returned from a cleanup exercise and someone deliberately doctored that video and put a voice note on it.
“That video is fake and so the public should disregard the video. The footage was taken some time back when these military men had returned from a cleanup exercise and so the voice accompanying the footage is actually fake. Someone had intentionally done that. We shouldn’t allow or encourage fake news as we are not in ordinary times,” he said.
According to him, CID is investigating the matter and working to find the IP address of the source and deal with persons behind the video.
He said any attempt to churn out misinformation that can compromise the fight against the coronavirus would not be countenanced.