Apologise for peddling falsehood on World Press Freedom Day - Group tells Mahama

Student Journalists For Truth, a group of young student journalists has asked former President John Mahama to apologise to the media and the general public for peddling falsehood on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day last week.

In a video message to celebrate the day last week, former President Mahama released a video message which he said Ghana was the number one ranked country in Africa for press when he was President, and added that Ghana has lost that enviable position due to poor press freedom under President Akufo-Addo.

But fact checks, led by www.ghanaweb.com and later corroborated by the Media Foundation for West Africa, have revealed that the former President's claim was false.

Now the students are calling on the former President to apologise for his "repulsive and gaping falsehood."

"It is rather unfortunate that on a day meant to celebrate the press and highlight one of its most important elements, former President Mahama chose to desecrate the day by using the press to peddle falsehood," the group said in a strongly worded press release issued today.

"We cannot fathom what could have motivated the former President to confidently peddle such a lie when incontrovertible records clearly show that Ghana was never ranked number in Africa as far as press freedom is concerned during his time as President."

The young student journalist added that celebrating press freedom include the truth value of the press. They therefore called on the former President to apologise and set the records straight so that his claim doesnt become a misleading reference for students.

"Upholding press freedom is also about speaking truth to the public, especially by high-ranking public officials as the former President."

"We wish to call on the former President to apologise for the unfortunate untruths he peddled to set the records straight. These lies, if left uncorrected, would become a misleading reference point for younger generations because it was peddled by a former President."

Below is the full press release: