The office of former President Jerry John Rawlings has debunked a publication by the Chronicle newspaper which said that a daughter of the former Ghanaian leader was a victim of sexual abuse in exchange for better grades.
Mr Rawlings’ office said the headline of the Chronicle story: ‘My daughter was a victim of Sex for Grade’ is a false and distorted rendition of what transpired” when the National Executive of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) called on the former leader on Thursday, 31 October 2019.
The release said: “While the former President spoke extensively about the scourge of the sex for grades issue, it must be noted that he never stated that his daughter was a victim of the said misbehaviour. It is irresponsible and bad journalism that the Chronicle chose to publish utter fabrications”.
“Quoting him verbatim, former President Rawlings stated at the outset of the mention of his daughter that, ‘Actually, I must admit that this thing has happened to one of my daughters before. It wasn’t to do with sex’”.
The office said it finds the reportage of the Chronicle as “false, derogatory and an attempt to draw non-existent inferences which are calculated to embarrass the former President and his family. The report is also an attempt to mislead members of the public into believing this fabrication”.
The office is, therefore, requesting all media houses that re-published that report “to respectfully retract and remove such publications from their media”.
