Ukrainian agency denies 2024 campaign links with NPP, says US$280K debt story False

Claim: Ukrainian agency Brandcom has threatened to sue the New Patriotic Party (NPP), demanding $280,000 for unpaid campaign services

Source: Media Reports

Verdict: False

Researched by Samuel Nii Adjetey

Foreign news websites, including AllAfrica, South Africa Today, and MSN.com, reported that a Ukrainian agency, Brandcom is demanding $280,000 from Ghana’s main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), over campaign-related services rendered during the 2024 elections.

According to the article first published by allAfrica.com on July 31, 2025, Brandcom claims to have executed a coordinated social media smear campaign targeting then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate John Mahama, but that it was not paid in full for the services after the party’s defeat. 

The publication also indicated that Brandcom was engaged in the creation of fake social media accounts, memes, and videos aimed at discrediting Mahama’s campaign. According to the publication, the claims by the agency were contained “in a pre-litigation notice issued by Brandcom.”

The websites behind the publications

GhanaFact monitored that two of the news websites – South Africa Today and MSN.com, attributed their story to allAfrica.com. Meanwhile allAfrica.com also attributed the source of the article to Washington-based InfoWire.

The allAfrica.com portal identifies itself “as a voice of, by and about Africa – aggregating, producing and distributing 500 news and information items daily from over 110 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC.”

Checks by GhanaFact showed that MSN.com has since taken down the story. 

This report will verify the claim that NPP contracted Brandcom for the campaign services. 

Fact-check

To verify the claim, GhanaFact through advanced Google search found a business portfolio of Brandcom, which contained information including their contact details and profiles of some key staff members.

Our team reached out to the Brandcom Managing Director, Iryna Petriv on LinkedIn asking whether the said publication had come to their attention. Petriv categorically denied having any contractual agreement with the NPP.

“Brandcom Ukraine has NEVER operated in Africa. Our focus is Ukraine and Europe. We have nothing to do with the issues going on in Ghana,” her message to GhanaFact read in part. 

The NPP also issued an official statement on August 3 refuting the allegations. The party stated that it had not engaged Brandcom for any services during the 2024 election campaign and dismissed the claims as false. 

To confirm the authenticity of the NPP statement because the letter had no signature, GhanaFact contacted the Director of Communications for the party, Richard Ahiagbah.

He confirmed that the statement was from his office, emphasising that the NPP had no contract with Brandcom. “Yes, it’s a letter from our party,” he said.

GhanaFact asked whether the NPP had any contract with a foreign PR agency in the lead up to the 2024 elections, “We don’t, and I think that’s the position of the letter,” he stressed.

Based on the debunk from both the MD of Brandcom and the NPP, the claim that the party contracted the Ukrainian PR agency during the 2024 election campaign is false.

Verdict 

The claim is therefore rated False!