Accra, Aug. 17, GNA – Ghana News Agency (GNA) has won the credibility battle waged against it by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a public policy institute, over the existence of IEA’s report titled: “Report on the 2008 General Elections in Ghana”.

IEA on Monday, August 15, 2011 issued the following press release: “Our attention has been drawn to an article published on the website of GNA, entitled ‘IEA slams NPP for abuse of incumbency in Elections 2008’. The IEA has neither authored such a publication nor conducted a survey or study to that effect. It is also totally false to say that the IEA has released any such non-existent findings. On Saturday 13th August 2011, our premises were indeed closed.”

The Editorial Conference, the highest authority on editorial matters in GNA, countered in a statement on Tuesday standing by its story: “IEA slams NPP for abuse of incumbency in Election 2008” filed on Sunday, August 14, 2011.

“The Conference came to this conclusion after thorough investigations it carried out established that the story was sourced from the official website of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

“It expressed shock and dismay that a reputable institution of IEA’s calibre could descend into the abyss and engage in a despicable act of removing a report it had posted on its official website since March 21, 2009 and denying its existence, when GNA started serialising it.”

In the course of the raging controversy Google has made available the document that IEA removed from its website and thus belied the release from IEA and established the credibility of GNA. The document can be accessed at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Yif0MiFr3NQJ:www.ieagh.org/News---Events/Election-2008.aspx+iea+election+ghana+abuse&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=gh&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com.gh

When scrolled down to the sub-topic “Abuse of Incumbency” the relevant material quoted by GNA in its story would be found.

The GNA would like to reassure Ghanaians that it would continue to perform to the highest professional and ethical standards to enable it to continue to enjoy its high credibility ratings among the populace.