Ghana's finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has been trending on Facebook and Twitter for at least three months. Many people, including rival political parties, civil society organisations, and 98 New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers have been clamouring for his resignation because they believe he has ruined the economy.

The economy is not looking good both on paper and in reality. On paper, the current inflation rate (November) is at 50.3% but in January 2022, it was at 13.8 %. According to Bloomberg, in October the Ghana cedi was ranked the worst-performing currency in the world.

In January 2022, $1 was about GH¢6 but the cedi lost so much value over the course of the year, with $1 dollar hitting about GH¢14.5 in late November 2022. The depreciation of the currency amongst other factors drove fuel prices up, which affected other things.

Transport fares rose, jacking up prices of goods and services which in turn slumped the living standards of citizens. This generated disturbances on the labour front leading to a nationwide strike for cost-of-living allowance (COLA) by teachers. The Government of Ghana gave in and paid 15% COLA.

Although the cedi has rallied against the dollar in the past few weeks, driving down the cost of fuel, Ghanaians are yet to feel the real impact of this as prices of goods and services are still fairly high. The reality is that Ghanaians are still experiencing an economic squeeze.

In October, the World Bank projected that debt levels in Ghana will spike to 104.6% of GDP from 76.6% a year earlier, amid a widened government deficit, massive weakening of the cedi, and rising debt service costs. The country’s debt is expected to remain at 99.7% and 101.8% of GDP in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 

Mr Ofori-Atta spiritedly stated that Ghana will not go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bail-out despite economic challenges.

“I can say; we are not going to the IMF. Whatever we do, we are not. The consequences are dire, we are a proud nation, we have the resources, and we have the capacity. We are not people of short-sight, but we have to move on. So, let’s think of who we are as strong, proud people, the shining star of Africa, and that we have the capacity to do whatever we want to do if we speak one language and ensure that we share the burden in the issues ahead”.

Mr Ofori-Atta was banking on boosting domestic revenue on unpopular electronic-levy charges which failed to meet projected expectations. Ghana was forced to make a U-turn and run to the IMF for a bailout. 

#KenMustGo is born

The hashtag #KenMustGo was born on 2 July 2022, a day after Ghana announced its decision to go back to the IMF. The hashtag was first tweeted by @ObengAppah. The hashtag took off on Twitter and frequently held the top spot on Ghana’s Twitter trends.

As of 7 December 2022, about 22,739 total tweets were garnered. 4,833 of the tweets were original and 13,967 were retweeted. 2097 tweets were quoted while 1842 were “replies”.

An analysis on #KenMustGo revealed that Atta received a lot of Twitter mentions whenever the cedi underperformed and fuel prices spiked. Many tweets suggested that the finance minister should resign because he promised never to seek a bailout from the IMF but was forced to go back on his words. 

On 25 October 2022 the #KenMustGo gained prominence on Twitter because 85 majority MPs held a press conference to pressure the president to sack the finance minister. This press conference fueled the #KenMustGo campaign, causing it to trend for days. There seemed to be an organic rise of public opinion on why #KenMustGo peaked at 7,633 Twitter mentions on 25 October 2022.

The most retweeted tweet was sent out by @tv3_ghana on 10 November 2022. The tweet garnered 943 retweets and 4,253 likes.

Over 9,600 users tweeted the hashtag and this generated about 465 million impressions.

Who are the drivers of #KenMustGo?

The Seeders – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts that sent out the most original tweets with #KenMustGo.

Top Amplifiers – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts that retweeted #KenMustGo tweets.

Top Influencers – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts whose tweets were retweeted the most.

Deep dive on the influencers

Politicians affiliated with the opposition

The most influential user of #KenMustGo was the MP for North Tongu and Former Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, tweeting with username @s_okudzetoablak’s. He used the hashtag eight times and garnered 1738 retweets.

Joyce Bawah Mogtari is another politician whose Twitter account, @joyce_bawah, drove the #KenMustGo narrative. Her account posted seven #KenMustGo tweets garnering 407 retweets cumulatively. 

Samples of @joyce_bawah’s #KenMustGo tweets (left, right) (Source: JoyNews using Twitter)

Media personalities pushing #KenMustGo narrative Media personality Nana Aba Anamoah’s tweets garnered over 1,373 retweets. Tweeting with the handle @thenanaaba, an analysis of the content of her #KenMustGo tweets indicated that she was not sharing the news about Mr. Ofori-Atta but was overtly calling on users to tweet the hashtag #KenMustGo. Samples of her tweets are shown below.

A Twitter account @TheCookieteeGH belonging to TV3 anchor Shirley Emma Tibilla, popularly known as Cookie Tee was also identified as one of the major drivers of the #KenMustGo narrative on Twitter. 

Another major driver of the #KenMustGo narrative was Umaru Sanda Amadu, a Citi FM news anchor who tweets with the username @UmaruSanda. The tweets were not posted to share the news. Although their tweets were one-offs, they gained a lot of traction.

Samples of @thenanaaba’s #KenMustGo tweets (left, right) (Source: JoyNews using Twitter)

Media houses sharing news

Two media houses under the handles @tv3ghana and @joy997fm also posted #KenMustGo tweets, which increased the narrative’s reach. A thorough perusal of these tweets revealed that the two handles disseminated news about the hashtag rather than calling for the finance minister to resign or be fired.

The Emergence of a counternarrative #KenMustStay 

In the heat of the clamour for the resignation or sacking of the finance minister, musician/social media activist Kwame APlus tweeted “we must begin a campaign to force the president to sack Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta. Every professional association, civil society organization, workers union and influential people in Ghana and abroad must be part of the campaign”. An unidentifiable Twitter user @Hatekahshine responded, #KenMustStay on 22nd October 2022. This marked the beginning of the counternarrative #KenMustStay.

As of December 8, 2022, 292 people generated 9,249 #KenMustStay tweets. 2,103 of the tweets were original while 6241 of them were retweets. #KenMustStay users frequently added additional hashtags, such as #KenVindicated #TrustKenToDeliver #KenNyameSombo. Users intensified their tweets on the first day the parliament ad-hoc committee sat to hear the censure motion against Ofori-Atta, that was filed by the minority in parliament.

#KenMustStay peaked at 4690 Twitter mentions on 21st November 2022.

The most retweeted #KenMustStay tweet was sent out by @messikingkong on 19 November 2022. The tweet garnered 129 retweets and 151 likes.

Who are the drivers of #KenMustStay?

The Seeders – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts that sent out most original tweets with #KenMustStay.

Top Amplifiers – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts that retweeted #KenMustStay tweets.

Top Influencers – An analysis of the top 10 Twitter accounts whose #KenMustStay tweets were retweeted the most.

The techniques used to push the #KenMustStay narrative

Copy pasting

We identified 61 accounts involved in coordinated sharing of specific messages on Twitter using #KenMustStay hashtags. The seemingly scripted tweets shared by these accounts contained content extolling the finance minister’s economic management prowess, urging him to stay in office. Some scenarios of the copy-pasted tweets are shared below.

Scenario 1

The message: “Undoubtedly, the ministry of finance is committed to working alongside all stakeholders to ensure we can reposition our economy back on a path of growth and prosperity Fin. Min., Ken Ofori-Atta #KenVindicated #CluelessNDC #KenMustStay”. This appears to be a quote from the Finance Minister when he appeared before the ad hoc committee set up to consider the motion for his censureship. 

Breakdown: We identified 47 distinct accounts that tweeted the message 75 times. This means that certain accounts tweeted the message more than once. Screengrabs of sample tweets are shared below. Click here to access the full list.

Samples of copy pasted tweets (top left, top middle, top right, bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right) (Source: JoyNews using Twitter)

Scenario 2

The message: “Carefully observing the Ad hoc committee's questions it's obvious #KenMustStay because the allegations all be useless and empty !! #TrustKenToDeliver ”.

Breakdown: 34 distinct accounts tweeted the message 40 times. Again, certain accounts tweeted the message more than once. Screengrabs of sample tweets are shared below. Click here to access the full list.

Scenario 3

The message: “Interestingly, the censure hearing has inured positively to the image of the Finance Minister! #KenMustStay #KenVindicated #CluelessNDC ”.

Breakdown: 25 distinct accounts tweeted the message 27 times. This means that certain accounts tweeted the message more than once. Screengrabs of sample tweets are shared below. Click here to access the full list.

Scenario 4

The message: “Even if you hate him, you can learn from his eloquence, coherence, and calm demeanor! #KenMustStay #KenVindicated #CluelessNDC ”.

Breakdown: 15 distinct accounts tweeted the message 16 times. This means that certain accounts tweeted the message more than once. Screengrabs of sample tweets are shared below. Click here to access the full list.

Click to access Scenario 5, Scenario 6, Scenario 7 and Scenario 8.

Unmasking the drivers of #KenMustStay - A deep dive on some Twitter accounts of Interest

@samira_tasha

As shown in the screengrab below, this account tweeted #KenMustStay 26 times. It retweeted several tweets by @ahekadoreen, @king_promise_ba, @kwakubrownies and @bengelo17, all of whom have been identified as major drivers of the #KenMustStay narrative.

@messikingkong

This account is a faceless and unidentifiable user who has 1,123 followers and follows 1,579 Twitter accounts. The account sent out 99 tweets with #KenMustStay. It retweeted several tweets by @kumahkodzo and @bengelo17, both of whom were identified as major drivers of the #KenMustStay narrative.

@ahekadoreen

This account sent out 66 tweets with #KenMustStay. It retweeted several tweets by  @samira_tasha, @king_promise_ba, @kwakubrownies, @_kevcool and @kumahkodzo, all of whom were previously identified as major drivers of the #KenMustStay narrative. 

@kumahkodzo

This account sent out 49 tweets with #KenMustStay. It retweeted several tweets by @messikingkong, @fantabulousIke, @bengelo17, @kwakubrownies and @ahekadoreen, all of whom were previously identified as major drivers of the #KenMustStay narrative.

The Verdict

The #KenMustGo conversations on Twitter appear to be relatively organic. The hashtag was tweeted by over 9,600 Twitter users. The political characters that drove this narrative on Twitter are well known and as members of the opposition, their stance on the matter is understandable. The opinions expressed in the tweets by the media personalities who also drove this narrative on Twitter mirrored what appears to be the general sentiments of most Ghanaians at the time.

Even MPs belonging to the same party (the New Patriotic Party) as the finance minister appear to have shared this view at the time. 98 NPP lawmakers urged the president to fire the finance minister. Andy Appiah Kubi, the Asante Akyem North MP and the spokesperson for the "rebel MPs," warned that till the president fires Ken Ofori-Atta, “…we members of the Majority caucus here in parliament will not participate in any business of government by or for the President (or) by any other minister”. 

Renowned economist Kwame Pianim, a stalwart of the NPP, also urged the president to fire Ofori-Atta. As a result, it is only logical that the reality on the ground was reflected on Twitter.

The #KenMustStay narrative was largely inorganic. The coordinated sharing of scripted messages exposed in this work is evidence of this assertion. The hashtag was tweeted by 292 Twitter users. Most of the accounts that were involved in the sharing of #KenMustStay tweets are closely linked.

They follow each other, mention each other and retweet each other’s tweets. This is just one example of how social media is used to paint a false picture of the existence of a certain narrative. 

This article was produced with mentorship from the African Academy for Open Source Investigations (AAOSI), to tackle disinformation that undermines our democracies, as part of an initiative by the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and Code for Africa (CfA). Visit https://disinfo.africa/ for more information.