{"id":98475,"date":"2025-10-14T11:22:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98475"},"modified":"2025-10-14T11:22:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:22:37","slug":"kofi-kum-bilsons-birthday-gift-to-bawumia-revives-joy-fms-2023-bawuliar-smear-campaign-expose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98475","title":{"rendered":"Kofi Kum Bilson\u2019s \u201cBirthday Gift\u201d to Bawumia revives Joy FM\u2019s 2023 \u2018Bawuliar\u2019 smear campaign expos\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 27 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

It was meant to be just another fun birthday shout-out \u2014 but Kofi Kum Bilson\u2019s \u201cgift\u201d<\/em> to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on live radio has suddenly brought back one of Ghana\u2019s biggest political buzzwords of recent times \u2014 #Bawuliar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The respected Peace FM presenter, known for his witty takes, dropped what many are now calling \u201cthe truth bomb\u201d<\/em> during his show on Bawumia\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is Bawumia\u2019s birthday and I have a gift for him,\u201d Kum Bilson began, teasing listeners with his trademark flair.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhanaians, let me clarify today that Bawumia is not a liar. It was just political orchestration to discredit him,\u201d he declared on-air.<\/p>\n

According to him, the now-infamous \u201cBawuliar\u201d tag was part of a well-crafted political retaliation \u2014 a comeback move by the opposition NDC after the ruling NPP had branded John Mahama as \u201cincompetent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat brought all these issues was that it was a retaliation,\u201d Kum Bilson said. \u201cThey (the NDC) orchestrated this campaign to label Bawumia as \u2018Bawuliar\u2019 \u2014 but he is not a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kum Bilson\u2019s comments relate to a 2023 Joy FM investigative report, which revealed the \u201cBawuliar\u201d campaign wasn\u2019t random social media banter \u2014 but a coordinated disinformation effort.<\/p>\n

Flashback: The Joy FM Investigation that unmasked the #Bawuliar campaign<\/h3>\n

Back in 2023, Joy FM, working with the African Academy for Open-Source Investigations (AAOSI)<\/strong>, traced the viral \u201cBawuliar\u201d trend to a deliberate attempt by political operatives to paint Bawumia as dishonest.<\/p>\n

According to the report, several NDC communicators and loyalists were among those amplifying the hashtag online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe identified Twitter user @sammygyamfi2017 as the second most influential account in respect of the #Bawuliar trend,\u201d the Joy report said, noting that the account matched archived tweets belonging to the party\u2019s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi\u2019s verified handle.<\/p>\n

The investigation also revealed a network of 28 Twitter accounts working in sync to push the narrative using \u201ccopy-paste\u201d posts.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t stop there. The campaign reportedly went so far as to influence Google search results for phrases like \u201cWho is the biggest liar in Africa?\u201d<\/em> \u2014 a move experts called \u201cGoogle bombing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was similar to how Donald Trump was linked to the word \u2018idiot\u2019 in 2018,\u201d the report explained, drawing parallels between Ghana\u2019s online politics and global digital disinformation tactics.<\/p>\n

The Takeaway<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What started as a light-hearted \u201cbirthday message\u201d from Kofi Kum Bilson has turned into a timely reminder of how political messaging \u2014 both on-air and online \u2014 shapes perceptions.<\/p>\n

By publicly clearing Bawumia\u2019s name and echoing the findings of Joy FM\u2019s 2023 expos\u00e9, the radio legend may have unintentionally reopened one of Ghana\u2019s most heated digital political debates \u2014 the battle between spin, satire, and smear.<\/p>\n

So, was it just a \u201cbirthday gift\u201d? Or a subtle call for honesty in Ghana\u2019s political storytelling? Either way, Kofi Kum Bilson just gave the nation something to talk about again.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\"KofiIt was meant to be just another fun birthday shout-out \u2014 but Kofi Kum Bilson\u2019s \u201cgift\u201d to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on live radio has suddenly brought back one of Ghana\u2019s biggest political buzzwords of recent times \u2014 #Bawuliar.<\/p>\n

The respected Peace FM presenter, known for his witty takes, dropped what many are now calling \u201cthe truth bomb\u201d during his show on Bawumia\u2019s birthday.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10458,94,3925,10459,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bawuliar","category-bawumia","category-joy-fm","category-kofi-kum-bilson","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}