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The Office of the President has formally demanded that the Al Jazeera Media Network retract immediately and apologise for airing an inaccurate and unfair documentary that contained spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the Government of Ghana.
This was contained in a letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante and directed to the Investigative Journalism Directorate of the Aljazeera Media Network.
According to the letter, the documentary in question made baseless claims that the President acted as a lawyer for one Mr. Alistair Mathias and implied that the President personally benefited unlawfully from an alleged $100m state infrastructure contract purportedly awarded to Mr. Mathias.
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In his letter dated 11th April, 2023, responding to Al Jazeera’s letter of 2nd April, 2023, which was received on 6th April, 2023, containing the vague and defamatory allegations, 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.
He stated that in those circumstances, further and better particulars were demanded from Al Jazeera to respond adequately to the allegations made in Al Jazeera’s letter. 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. Furthermore, Al Jazeera was requested to provide details of the “USD 100 million tender for state infrastructure”, allegedly given to Mr. Mathias, which he 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 “USD 100 million tender for state infrastructure.”
He again noted that Al Jazeera refused or failed to provide the details as requested and went ahead with the broadcast of the documentary. At the end of the documentary, a terse text was shown, contradicting the content of the documentary. Additionally, the subject of the documentary, Mr. Alistair Mathias, denied what he said in the documentary to Al Jazeera’s investigative journalist. In light of these blatant denials by Mr. Alistair Mathias and the response from Mr. Essuman, those parts of the documentary ought not to have been included because those statements were not true.
Accordingly, he said those parts of the documentary are malicious, defamatory, and a calculated attempt to tarnish the reputation of the President and Government of Ghana.
“It is therefore demanded that Al Jazeera withdraws the documentary immediately, retracts and apologises to the President and the Government of Ghana for airing such an unprofessional and defamatory documentary. It is imperative that you act forthwith on this request within seven (7) days from the date of receipt of this letter. Please confirm receipt of this letter and your intention to take the necessary action as requested,” he stated.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori