Claim 1: A Facebook user claims John Mahama, the NDC 2024 flagbearer, left office on January 6, 2017, when Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 56%.
Verdict: False!
Explanation
Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Ministry of Finance showed that Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio was above 72% in 2016 when Mahama exited office, not 57%, as claimed.
Claim 2: A Facebook user claims John Mahama, the NDC 2024 flagbearer, left office on January 6, 2017, when Ghana’s inflation was 15%.
Verdict: True!
Explanation
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)’s 2016 year-on-year inflation rate confirmed that the inflation rate, as of December 31, 2024, was 15%.
Claim 3: A Facebook user claims John Mahama, the NDC 2024 flagbearer, left office on January 6, 2017, when Ghana’s unemployment rate was 8%.
Verdict: True!
Explanation
The GLSS 7 survey conducted between October 2016 and October 2017, confirmed Ghana’s labour force comprised 12,244,318 people, with 11,216,724 employed and 1,027,596 unemployed. Using the unemployment rate formula, dividing 1,027,596 by 12,244,318 and multiplying the result (0.0839) by 100%, the unemployment rate for 2016/2017 was 8.39%, rounded to 8.4%. Therefore, the social media user’s claim is true.
Source: Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition