President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Akufo-Addo has asked the international news network, Al Jazeera, to render an unqualified apology to him over a false publication.
According to a demand notice given by the Jubilee House on April 25, 2023, Al Jazeera has seven days to comply with the seat of government over the “inaccurate and unfair documentary that contained spurious and unsubstantiated allegations” against the President and the Government of Ghana or risk legal action.
The letter, signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante, Executive Secretary to the President, indicated that the documentary titled: “Gold Mafia”, made baseless claims that the President acted as a lawyer for one Mr. Alistair Mathias and implied that the President personally benefitted unlawfully from an alleged $100m state infrastructure contract purportedly awarded to Mr. Mathias.
In his letter dated April 11, 2023, responding to Al Jazeera’s letter of April 2, 2023, which was received on April 6, 2023, containing what has been described as vague and defamatory allegations, Nana Bediatuo noted that “the Legal Counsel to the President, Mr. Kow Abaka Essuman, acting on the instructions of the President, informed Al Jazeera that the President had not been in private practice since the year 2000 and that the President had no recollection of acting as a lawyer, either personally or through his law firm, Messrs. Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co, for a Mr. Alistair Mathias or his company, Guldrest Resources.”
In those circumstances, he indicated that “further and better particulars were demanded from Al Jazeera to respond adequately to the allegations made in Al Jazeera’s letter” and “Al Jazeera was thus requested to provide information on the period for which the President allegedly provided legal representation to Mr. Alistair Mathias or his company, Guldrest Resources.”
The letter also stated that Al Jazeera was asked to provide details of the alleged $100 million tender for state infrastructure, which Mr. Mathias allegedly outsourced and kept a percentage in offshore accounts, as stated in the letter, as well as information on how the President personally benefited unlawfully from the alleged $100 million tender for state infrastructure.
Despite Al Jazeera’s refusal or failure to give these needed details, the news outlet broadcast the programme and at the end of the documentary featured a brief sentence that also contradicted the documentary’s content.
Mr. Alistair Mathias, surprisingly, denied what he said in the documentary to Al Jazeera’s investigative journalist.
In view of Mr. Alistair Mathias’s blatant denials and Mr. Essuman’s rejoinder, Secretary to the President insisted that parts of the documentary should not have been included since those claims were false.
That, he said, was because “those parts of the documentary are malicious, defamatory, and a calculated attempt to tarnish the reputation of the President and Government of Ghana.”
As a result, Nana Bediatuo has demanded that Al Jazeera pull the video immediately, recant it, and apologise to the President and the Government of Ghana for showing “such an unprofessional and defamatory documentary.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent