GNA retracts story on TMA boss

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) has retracted its story, which alleges that the Chief Executive of the Tema Municipal Assembly(pictured) has been implicated by a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into two contracts awarded by the Assembly. The retraction of the story is a dramatic turnaround for the GNA, which just yesterday put out a statement defending the widely publicized article.

A statement signed by the General Manager of the GNA, Kafui Johnson said Management has become concerned by statements of both the Attorney General and the acting Executive Director of the SFO to the effect that the SFO has not issued any report implicating the TMA boss, Amos Ashong Narh.

The statement said an administrative enquiry is underway to establish the credibility of the source of the story. The inquiry will also determine whether the GNA's due editorial processes were followed before the story was published.

The statement from the GNA is a dramatic turnaround for the state-owned news agency, which sells news reports to almost every media house in Ghana and other news organizations around the globe. Yesterday, the GNA boldly proclaimed that it stands by the story, which alleged that the TMA boss could soon be prosecuted for financial impropriety in the award of two contracts valued at 1.2 billion cedis. But today, the GNA is saying that it cannot produce a copy of the said report.

The agency said it defended the veracity of the report because its Representative in Tema, who filed the story, said he was shown a copy of the report by an officer at the Tema SFO office who briefed him on what he termed "highlights" of the Report.

The GNA has therefore apologized and retracted the story, saying that it did not set out to pursue any hidden agenda. Since the GNA is a public subvented organization, fully funded by the government, questions could be raised as to whether the apology was voluntary or forced one.