Video of Mahama saying “Ghanaians are small-minded” doctored

A video has emerged on social media, suggesting flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama made comments that may be considered disparaging to Ghanaians. (See here, here, here, here, here and here).

In a 23-second video being circulated on various media platforms, Paapa Yankson’s high-life song ‘Okukuseku’ is heard in the background while Mr Mahama is heard purportedly saying, “As I said in the past, I believe that Ghanaians are small-minded. And that you can tell that anything just to win their votes so that you can win political power”. The video ended with actor Akrobeto’s meme video and a tagline; “SAY NO TO MAHAMA”.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified the video to ascertain its authenticity.

In verifying the audio-visual material, we examined the setting and the scene of the recording and then crosschecked to find out if the NDC leader had been at similar settings and scenes.

A closer look at the video shows Mr Mahama wearing a white shirt and what appears to be jeans trousers and dark glasses. A man, standing beside him, wears a blue-black shirt with a scarf in NDC’s colours and symbol around his shoulders. The said man has been identified as the Upper East Regional Chairperson of the NDC, Alhaji Abdulai Mumumi Bolnaba.

Then another man emerged from behind walking towards Mr. Mahama. The man in long African wear and a hat both designed with NDC’s colours on black trousers is the Member of Parliament for Zebilla Constituency, Cletus Avoka. Behind Mr. Mahama down the podium, canopies with black and red coloured fabric on top are seen.

We deduced from the details that the video emanated from a rally the NDC flagbearer held at Benaba Market Square in the Zebilla Constituency on August 4, 2024.

Woezor TV streamed the rally live around 4:15 pm on the day. Mr Mahama is seen in the live stream in the same dress with the Upper East Regional Chairperson of the party, also in the same dress as in the trendy video, standing beside the presidential candidate. The Zebilla MP is spotted standing behind Mr Mahama.

At about 6 minutes and 30 seconds of the live stream, Mr Mahama states the need for political leaders to be honest while detailing what he believes are failures of the New Patriotic Party government.

“You see, people believe that Ghanaians are small-minded and that you can tell them anything just to win their votes so that you can win political power. NDC is not that kind of party. I, JM, am not that kind of person,” he said. (See 7 mins 45 secs. to 8 mins 6 secs of the Facebook stream).

However, Woezor TV’s stream truncated showing live images when Mr. Mahama was making the above comment. It, therefore, means that although both videos emanated from same event, they are different recordings.

A Google reverse image search shows that a lengthy version of the video being circulated was posted at 8:24 PM on August 4, 2024 on the social media handles of Joyce Bawa Mogtari, Spokesperson for the former president.

In this video, the venue of the event is inscribed at the top right corner and there is no background music nor meme video at its tail end, unlike the one trending.

A comparative analysis of it and Woezer TV’s live feed indicates that it is made up of relevant portions of Mr Mahama’s address at the Benaba Market Square pieced together.

Between 0 to 22 seconds of the 1 minute 15 seconds video posted on Joyce Bawa’s socials, Mr Mahama is heard saying, “You see, people believe that Ghanaians are small-minded and that you can tell them anything just to win their votes so that you can win political power. NDC is not that kind of party. I, JM, am not that kind of person”.

It is this portion of the version of the recording posted on Mr. Mahama Spokesperson’s social media handles that has been manipulated to portray the NDC leader as saying “Ghanaians are small-minded”.

From the above, it is established that the video emanated from a rally John Mahama held at Benaba Market Square in the Zebilla Constituency and that a version of the original was posted on Joyce Bawa’s social handles on the same day.

It has, however, been doctored and is being circulated to depict John Mahama as saying “Ghanaians are small-minded”.