A few disgruntled newspapers have intensified what appears to be a coordinated smear campaign against the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and its Chief Executive Officer.

The campaign is allegedly being orchestrated by the Editor and Publisher of The Source, Wilberforce Asare, with the apparent objective of maligning, defaming, and deliberately undermining the integrity of the MIIF CEO without provocation.

According to a senior official of the Fund, sare has openly admitted that he was contracted by some former board members and past executives of MIIF to embark on sustained negative publications against the CEO.

The purported aim of the campaign, the official said, is to pressure the MIIF CEO into publishing the Fund’s 2024 financial statements on its website and issuing a press release on MIIF’s letterhead.

The official further disclosed that Asare claimed his so-called “paymasters” had instructed him not to relent until their demands were met. As a result, Asare allegedly issued several threats aimed at advancing what the official described as a mischievous agenda.

Asare reportedly argued that since the current MIIF CEO was not in office at the time the financial statements were prepared, she had no business engaging the Auditor-General on the matter.

He further told the MIIF official that his alleged sponsors were unable to travel abroad to conduct business or visit their families because their passports had been seized in connection with ongoing investigations into alleged fraud and corruption-related offences.

The MIIF official said Asare issued an ultimatum to the CEO, threatening to intensify negative publications should she fail to comply.

“We will dig into her and tell the world all manner of stories about her. We will dig into her, and after that we will fabricate all manner of stories against her,” Asare was quoted as warning.

Since these threats were allegedly issued a few weeks ago, Mr Asare has embarked on what sources describe as a media rampage, using his four-month-old tabloid to execute the negative agenda.

In a bid to amplify the circulation of the stories, he is alleged to have engaged the services of some irresponsible newspaper and online editors, paying them meagre amounts to republish fabricated content.

His reported modus operandi involves writing a single story, attaching multiple headlines for editors to choose from, and distributing the material widely after collecting substantial sums from his sponsors.

Sources say that despite authoring the stories, Asare often declines to publish them under his byline or in his own newspaper, allegedly to shield himself from legal consequences.

This practice has reportedly landed some editors in court for publishing falsehoods. Others, including AsaaseRadioOnline, have retracted and publicly apologised for publishing unverified and false content.

One such editor, according to the MIIF official, later admitted that he had discontinued the publications after realising the malicious intent behind them.

He reportedly stated that the MIIF CEO had done nothing to warrant such sustained attacks and pledged to uphold responsible journalism by publishing only verified and factual information.

The editor further acknowledged that MIIF remains Ghana’s only sovereign wealth fund in the mining sec and that persistent negative reportage could undermine its ability to attract foreign partners and co-investors, ultimately harming efforts to transform the country’s mining industry.

The conduct attributed to Asare has also raised questions about his credibility as a law student and whether such behaviour reflects the character expected of a prospective member of the Ghana Bar.

Some of his colleagues at the Ghana School of Law, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described his conduct as troubling and unbecoming. They alleged that he is often seen defending wrongdoing and is willing to go to extreme lengths to bring down individuals he dislikes.

“He is a complete disgrace and an apology to the law students’ fraternity. If he can engage in such conduct even before graduating, only God knows what he might do if he unfortunately qualifies as a lawyer,” one student remarked.

Others expressed concern that his attitude leaves much to be desired and suggested that it would be in the public interest for such conduct to be critically examined.

A colleague of Asare also called on the Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) to take a serious view of the matter, arguing that such actions bring the profession into disrepute and warrant decisive action.