Former President John Mahama and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), are those behind the “doctoring” of a video portraying President Nana Akufo-Addo as accepting bribe from the second wife of the Director of Urban Roads, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said in a statement.
Mr Mahama said on Wednesday, 2 December 2020 that President Akufo-Addo has sunk Ghana so low with the videotape that captured him accepting money in a brown envelope at his office in Nima.
“A President shameless enough to accept money in a brown paper bag like a mafia chieftain – Nana has made it clearer than ever that he was only interested in the Presidency so that he could enrich himself, and he was willing to tell any lie to get there”, the presidential candidate of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) posted on his Facebook wall.
“You have seen with your own eyes how low Nana has brought Ghana. Rising food prices, youth unemployment, no real development, increasing debt, no future for your children. Do you really want 4 more years of that?”, he asked, adding: “#RescueMission #KickNanaOut #JohnMahama2020”.
However, Mr Oppong Nkrumah’s statement said: “The government of Ghana noted without much surprise, a desperate attempt by the campaign of John Mahama to falsely accuse the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of bribery”.
“Characteristic of the NDC’s reliance on waging a campaign of lies, fake news and fabrications, the opposition candidate and his party have now sponsored the doctoring of this video and superimposed it with new voices to create the false impression that it is a post-2016 event showing the President receiving a bribe”, the statement noted.
The statement urged the public and the media to be cautious and not fall victim to the antics of “these persons who desperately desire to tarnish the image of the Republic for their own selfish, parochial, partisan ends”.
It added: “President Akufo-Addo has never been involved in any untoward conduct, let alone take a bribe. The original footage of the incident shows it dearly as a 2016 campaign donation and nothing more”.