Unproven: No Evidence Joseph Boakai is Travelling to Do Surgery

On November 30, Montserrado District 8 Representative, Acarous Gray claimed that President-elect Joseph Nyumah Boakai is traveling to the US to seek medical attention. Gray made the post to Facebook.

The Claim

His direct words were: “In case the Legislature doesn’t have a quorum on Inauguration Day especially with a UP minority? The story getting interesting oooh. A heavily divided Liberia yah. Boakai leaves for a major surgery tomorrow and UP hiding it.”

This claim, which got 506 reactions, 1,100 comments and 19 shares, was made by Representative Gray in  response to a statement issued by the office of the President-elect Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s trip to the US.

According to the statement, “the President -elect will be away for two to three weeks and is expected to hold a wide range of consultations with stakeholders in the political process of Liberia including the Unity Party in the United States and Canada to thank them for the massive and unwavering  support given the Unity Party Alliance in the elections”.

Rating Justification

To fact check this claim, Local Voices Liberia fact-checking desk contacted the campaign spokesperson for the Unity Party, Mo Ali via text message about the sole intend of the President elect’s visit to America, and he  debunked the claim.

“The president-elect is not going for surgery. This propaganda has been the main theme for the CDC throughout campaign,” Ali said in his response.

Further search found a statement issued by the President-elect’s office dated November 30, 2023. The statement was posted by a supporter of the Unity Party, George Saah.

Conclusion

Based on the research conducted by our fact-checking desk, we therefore conclude that the is no proof to back the claim made by Rep. Gray that Mr. Boakai is travelling to the US to do a surgery.

This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content