Sammy Gyamfi, NDC Communications Officer
A meticulous investigation conducted by the African Academy for Open-Source Investigations (AAOSI) in collaboration with www.myjoyonline.com has exposed how Sammy Gyamfi, the Director of Communications of the NDC, along with other NDC-affiliated individuals, orchestrated a deliberate campaign to negatively label Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and discredit him politically.
This research forms part of AAOSI’s initiative to combat fake news and strengthen democracies in Africa by examining the origin and deliberate labelling of Vice President Bawumia as a liar, which was fueled by the creation of the #Bawuliar hashtag to drive trends. The findings revealed a well-coordinated plan orchestrated by the NDC, led by Sammy Gyamfi.
The investigation unveiled that the NDC strategically used the negative labelling of Bawumia as a liar to undermine his credibility whenever he spoke on economic matters or delivered significant speeches.
The research delved into the Twitter activity surrounding the #Bawuliar trend, analyzing the top 10 accounts with the most original #Bawuliar tweets, the top 10 accounts that retweeted #Bawuliar tweets, the top 10 amplifiers of the trend, and the top 10 accounts whose #Bawuliar tweets were retweeted the most.
Notably, the investigation identified Twitter user @SammyGyamfi_, previously known as @sammygyamfi2017, as the second most influential account in the #Bawuliar trend. Sammy Gyamfi, the communications director of the NDC, was associated with this account. The research highlighted three popular #Bawuliar tweets from @SammyGyamfi_, where he criticized Bawumia’s claims about the Ghana card being used as a travel document, questioning the Vice President’s truthfulness.
Furthermore, the investigation pinpointed Twitter user @Annanperry as the most influential account in driving the #Bawuliar narrative. @Annanperry, a self-proclaimed youth activist of the NDC, frequently amplified pro-NDC content, including the #Bawuliar hashtag.
The study also revealed a coordinated campaign involving 28 Twitter accounts, led by @Annanperry, which copied and pasted #Bawuliar tweets. Most of these tweets were excerpts from an opinion article co-authored by former Minister for Communications of Ghana, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and Dr George Atta-Boateng, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), titled ‘Digitization of Ghana’s Economy: An Insight into John Mahama’s Massive Investments.’
The research conducted by AAOSI and www.myjoyonline.com brought to light the deliberate efforts of Sammy Gyamfi and NDC-affiliated individuals to use the #Bawuliar hashtag to label Vice President Bawumia as a liar for political expediency. The investigation emphasized the importance of countering fake news to maintain the integrity of democratic processes in Africa.
Below are the research findings on how Sammy Gyamfi and other Twitter users linked to the NDC orchestrated the hashtag to label Vice President a liar, which the research findings concluded is for political expediency:
@SammyGyamfi_, formerly known as @sammygyamfi2017, was identified as the second most influential account in the #Bawuliar trend. This account tweeted #Bawuliar 11 times, with the most popular tweet criticizing Dr Bawumia’s claim about the Ghana card as a travel document, garnering 171 retweets and 727 likes.
@Annanperry, a youth activist of the NDC, was identified as the most influential account in pushing the #Bawuliar narrative. This account used #Bawuliar 97 times and frequently amplified pro-NDC narratives.
Both @SammyGyamfi_ and @Annanperry were found to be heavily connected to each other, with multiple retweets and mentions between them. @Annanperry was also associated with other influential accounts involved in driving the #Bawuliar narrative on Twitter.
The research findings suggest that Sammy Gyamfi and other NDC-linked Twitter users strategically used the #Bawuliar hashtag to criticize the Vice President, possibly for political gain.
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