CPP accuses Daily Graphic of bribery

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) is accusing the Graphic Communications Group, publishers of the Daily Graphic newspaper of accepting huge sums of money to tarnish the party’s image.

The allegation by the CPP comes on the heels of a screaming banner headline story by the national newspaper on Thursday June 20, 2013 which said Party Chair Samia Nkrumah and the party’s 2012 flagbearer, Dr. Abu Sakara Forster had been indicted of stealing Ghc700,000 of campaign cash.

Both Dr. Sakara and Samia Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah denied the allegation in separate interviews they granted XYZ News.

The story also named the party’s General Secretary, Ivor Greenstreet and a female party member as also benefitting from the embezzlement.

Though the Daily Graphic attributed its publication to a report by a fact-finding committee of the CPP, the party’s Director of Communication, Nii Armah Akomfrah, has described the publication as “most shameful day in the [history of] journalism at the Daily Graphic”.

He claimed some journalists at the Daily Graphic were bribed to twist the facts of the story so as to tarnish the image of those named in the report.

“…Huge sums of monies were paid to journalists at the Daily Graphic to do what they did”, alleged Nii Armah Akomfrah on Saturday June 22, 2013 when he spoke on Radio XYZ’s news analysis programme ‘The Analyst’.

Asked by the Host, Isaac Kaledzi whether his claims were mere allegations or facts, Nii Armah Akomfrah said categorically that: “I’m not alleging, I’m saying that monies exchanged hands with journalists at the Daily Graphic”.

He said the party intends writing a letter of protest to the Daily Graphic over the story.