GhanaFact has partnered with the largest citizen observer group in Ghana, the Coalition for Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) to fact-check information explosion on election day, December 7.
The partnership, which also includes Dubawa Ghana, another verified fact-checking agency, will see us leverage the CODEO election-day observer group spread across the country to verify claims on social and traditional media during the presidential and parliamentary elections.
CODEO’s non-partisan stationery and roaming observers, totalling 4,580, will be deployed across the 16 regions to monitor the electoral process and related incidents, and report in real-time to help combat weaponized information.
Tackling misinformation
Ahead of the elections, Africa’s top gold producer is seeing a growing trend of misinformation being shared on social media and the cloning of credible media websites to mislead the electorates.
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“We are seeing a lot of misinformation with the coming of social media so Dubawa, GhanaFact among others will help us manage that,” Director for Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development, Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante said at the launch of the “National Information System (NIS).
National Information System launched
CODEO on Thursday launched a “National Information System (NIS)” to independently verify the official presidential results declared by the Electoral Commission of Ghana and election-related incidents.
The deployed observers will submit reports regularly to the NIS for thorough analysis, and the findings shared with key stakeholders including the public.
GhanaFact will be leveraging on the network of fact-checking desks across 35 newsrooms in the 16 regions of Ghana and the CODEO Election Day observers to flag suspicious information and tackle the weaponisation of misinformation.
By: Sani Abdul-Rahman
