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General News of Monday, 22 November 2004

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Kufuor declared winner by Graphic

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.... Four Weeks In Advance!
... directive from the Castle -Democrat
GhanaHomePage (GHP) has received an image of the front-page of the 'Daily Graphic' prepared for Wednesday, December 8, 2004. It had been prepared by the state-owned daily, weeks before the December 7 election day, to declare a Kufuor victory on that day.

GHP obtained the image from a source on Friday, but was struggling to find a correct journalistic "balance.? due to the volatile political situation.

The Front-page headline reads ?4 MORE FOR KUFUOR? and depicts the incumbent president with outstretched arms showing the victory sign and apparently celebrating an electoral victory.

It?s accompanied by supporting headlines, ?Mills concedes defeat and quits? and ?World leaders greet Kufuor ?.

The GHANA PALAVER, an NDC mouthpiece, published the printout on Thursday, under the headline ?AYEBOAFO, CAN YOU DENY THIS?? questioning the neutrality of Graphic?s editor Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo:

?It came to us straight from inside the presses of the 'Daily Graphic', from irate workers of the state-owned newspaper who are livid about the way their once proud and internationally renowned and respected, objective and neutral newspaper is being turned into a propaganda broadsheet and mouthpiece of the ruling NPP by the pro-NPP, NPP-appointed, sycophantic editor of the paper and the man who in 1992 contested the NPP primaries in his Ashanti Region constituency, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo,? wrote the palaver.

THE DEMOCRAT, under the headline, ?Alarm Blow - NPP, Graphic caught in the act? claimed the order came from the castle.

?The cat is out of the bag! Acting on a directive from the Castle, the editor of the DAILY GRAPHIC, Mr. Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh, has already prepared down the front page of the DAILY GRAPHIC ?..?

The daily graphic editor, who was appointed by the Kufuor administration, has however refuted these allegations. He claims the printout was a normal creative piece put together by a graphic designer working for the national daily. According to him, graphic designers are freely allowed to experiment as this enhances their creativity adding that he did not see anything wrong with it as long as it has not been published

Prior to publication, GHP showed the story to a cross-section of Ghanaians for coments:

?This is a hoax! Even if it?s not, I believe the NDC did the same during their time. Bury the story, it?s not worth publishing? said a Ghanaian in NY, USA

?Shame on Graphic. Is this the editor's contribution to the NPP?? said a Ghanaian in Accra

?If the govt want?s to dissociate itself from this story, then I?ll advice them to fire boafoh [Ayeboafoh]? what was his name again ?.. Look NPP is the best governemt we ever had and I am sure they had nothing to do with this.? Said a Ghanaian in Finland

?Look, Kufuor and his men are planning to rig the elections and this is a clear evidence,? said a Ghanaian in London.

The coments of the Ghanaians above have been edited for clarity.