On Friday, November 10, 2023, @Afia_Dimple, a user of microblogging platform, X, formerly known as Twitter published an infographic of Ghana’s Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The infographic, designed with the template of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), had a quote of the vice president saying that, "it is time to break the Christian dominance of Ghana’s presidency.*
Read full articleThis post has generated a lot of conversation on Twitter/X, with many netizens describing the comments of the vice president as religious bigotry.
Verdict: The claim and post is false
Claim:
The post by @Afia_Dimple on X says the Vice President on Thursday, November 9, 2023 said that, “It’s time to break the Christian dominance of Ghana’s Presidency. We, Muslims can also lead this, Nation. Let’s go out there and show the world that we are capable. This is the time for Muslims.”
Our probe and findings:
The said infographic designed using an NPP template was not created by officials of the NPP. A check on the official Facebook page – New Patriotic Party (Development in Freedom), Twitter - @NPP_GH, Instagram – npp_gh, and website - https://newpatrioticparty.org/ of the NPP indicates that the party did not make any such publication.
It is important to note the such a claim and statement of this nature have neither been made by the Vice President on the supposed date as posted on social media.
Also, GhanaWeb's checks showed the photo of the vice president used in creating the infographic is a 2017 picture of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at his swearing-in ceremony as vice president of the Republic of Ghana. The photo as well as his swearing-in oath is still on his official Facebook page.
swearing-in photo of Dr Bawumia
Furthermore, the Vice President, officially did not make any public address on November 9, 2023. As part of his presidential duties, Dr. Bawumia, on the said date, Thursday, November 9, 2023, welcomed to the Jubilee House, H.E. Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister is in the country for a two-day historic visit.
The meeting between Dr. Bawumia and H.E. Petr Fiala was captured in an online report by 3news reporter, Laud Nartey.
Dr.Bawumia welcomes Prime Minister of Czech Republic
Verdict:
Dr Bawumia never said Muslims can break Christian dominance of Ghana's presidency, and therefore, the post made by @Afia_Dimple on the X platform is false.
EAN/MA
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia