Catastrophic cybersecurity breach sees Prez. Mahama’s Twitter pushing dodgy crypto scheme

In what can only be described as a catastrophic cybersecurity breach, President John Dramani Mahama‘s verified Twitter account (@JDMahama) was used to promote “Solanafrica”, a dubious cryptocurrency project rife with fabrications, false affiliations, and telltale signs of fraud.

This mortifying incident lays bare not merely a momentary lapse but systemic inadequacies in Ghana’s presidential communications infrastructure and governance protocols.

Presidential security negligence: An inexcusable vulnerability

The hijacking of President Mahama’s “official” personal Twitter account represents an astonishing failure of basic security hygiene at Ghana’s highest office.

That scammers could commandeer a head of state’s verified social media presence, using it to peddle a cryptocurrency scheme, raises profound questions about the competence of those entrusted with securing presidential communications.

I am going with “hacked” because that can be the only explanation – no other can hold water.

But even this whole issue bring to the fore how some have earlier defended things like the streaming of WoezorTV on that same account of Prez Mahama. They had pointed out that @JDMahama is his personal account, established before his presidency, rather than the institutional @GhanaPresidency account.

I stayed out of the issue due to my affiliations with Ghana’s biggest TV station lest someone calms I was fighting growth of Stan Dogbe’s media brand. But alas, that defence missed the point entirely, and that is highlighted today.

Once he assumed the presidency, any account bearing his name and verification badge carries the implicit authority of his office. The distinction between “personal” and “official” accounts becomes meaningless when both represent the same individual now serving as head of state. Indeed, the higher follower count and established audience of his personal account makes it an even more critical digital asset requiring rigorous security protocols.

One must ask: what rudimentary safeguards were absent? Multi-factor authentication, approval workflows for outgoing messages, regular security audits, and basic monitoring systems are standard practice for even mid-level corporate accounts, let alone those of world leaders. The Presidency’s failure to implement such fundamentals betrays either shocking ignorance or inexcusable negligence.

Most damning is the delayed response. The fraudulent tweets promoting Solanafrica remained visible for hours, accumulating nearly 200,000 views and thousands of engagements before deletion. There’s either a woeful absence of account monitoring or, more troublingly, confusion within the President’s team about whether these messages were actually authorised, both scenarios pointing to profound disarray in Ghana’s executive communications apparatus.

Even as I write, there is still another compromised post about Solana visible on the president’s page – but more about that later.

President Mahama campaigned on promises of modernisation and technological advancement. That his own digital presence could be so easily compromised makes these promises ring hollow.

If the presidency cannot secure its own Twitter account, how can Ghanaians trust it to oversee nationwide digital transformation initiatives?

Anatomising the Solanafrica crypto scam: A masterclass in deception

The Solanafrica project represents a sophisticated attempt to exploit political authority for financial fraud. A forensic examination of the operation reveals multiple layers of deliberate deception:

1. Website registration and concealed ownership

The domain solanafrica.com is shrouded in secrecy. WHOIS data for the domain has been deliberately redacted, concealing the identities of its owners, a classic tactic employed by fraudulent operations to avoid accountability.

This privacy protection, while technically legal, is particularly suspicious for an allegedly government-backed initiative that should prioritise transparency.

The domain appears to be hosted on Cloudflare infrastructure (evidenced by nameservers earl.ns.cloudflare.com and stevie.ns.cloudflare.com), which provides another layer of anonymity for the actual website operators.

2. Fabricated official endorsements

The Solanafrica website contains multiple fabrications designed to create an impression of legitimacy:

Most egregiously, it lists “Dean Adansi Chief” as CEO of Bank of Ghana, a completely fabricated persona, as the Bank of Ghana is led by a Governor, not a CEO. Dr. Ernest Addison served as the previous Governor until President Mahama appointed Dr. Johnson Asiama upon taking office in January 2025.

Even more appalling is the listing of John Kumah as deputy minister for finance, despite Kumah having passed away before this project emerged, a grievous error no legitimate government initiative would make.

3. Amateurish implementation

The website itself contains unprofessional elements that would never appear in an official government initiative:

Placeholder “Lorem ipsum” text appears in multiple sections, standard filler content used in incomplete website templates. This suggests a hastily constructed façade rather than a legitimate financial platform.

The design employs gaudy gradient elements transitioning from purple to green, creating a visual aesthetic more aligned with fly-by-night crypto operations than official government programmes.

4. Suspicious token distribution

The website brazenly states that “The Solanafrica team controls 20% of the total supply” with additional allocations of 10% for “marketing and key opinion leaders” and 5% for “transaction fees.”

This centralized distribution model, with project insiders controlling 35% of tokens, is a hallmark of pump-and-dump schemes, allowing founders to artificially inflate value before selling their holdings.

5. Memecoin focus

Perhaps most telling is the emphasis on promoting a “Solanafrica memecoin” rather than substantive financial infrastructure. Memecoins typically lack sustainable economic models, instead relying on hype, misinformation, and celebrity endorsements.

Their promotion from an allegedly presidential platform represents either profound financial illiteracy or deliberate fraud.

6. Timing within recent Solana scam wave

The Solanafrica scheme emerges amidst a documented surge in Solana-based cryptocurrency scams.

Recent investigations have identified dozens of presale scams on the Solana blockchain that collectively defrauded investors of approximately $150 million in March 2025 alone.

This timing is unlikely to be coincidental, suggesting the perpetrators deliberately exploited both the current wave of Solana-related fraud and President Mahama’s digital vulnerability to maximise their scheme’s reach and perceived legitimacy.

The memecoin focus is particularly suspicious given the recent proliferation of short-lived Solana-based memecoins designed specifically for pump-and-dump schemes. These tokens typically generate initial hype, attract investment from unsophisticated buyers, and then collapse in value as founders and early investors sell their holdings. Solanafrica’s token distribution model, with its heavy insider allocation, perfectly fits this predatory pattern.

Ghana’s cryptocurrency regulatory reality

The claimed Bank of Ghana partnership with Solanafrica directly contradicts Ghana’s actual regulatory position on cryptocurrencies.

As of March 2025, Ghana remains in a transitional phase regarding cryptocurrency regulation.

In August 2024, the Bank of Ghana published its first draft guidelines for digital assets after years of prohibition. These guidelines followed “an in-depth review of the digital assets landscape” and were designed to “bolster innovation in the financial market whilst reining in the potential risks.”

Critically, however, the Bank clarified that “banks and payment service providers are still banned from engaging in crypto asset transactions until the formal guidelines come into force.”

This makes the claimed Bank of Ghana partnership with Solanafrica not only unlikely but contrary to the bank’s stated policy.

The project’s claims that “The Bank of Ghana will play a key role in facilitating payments across the country through the Solana blockchain” directly contradict these regulatory realities, further confirming the fraudulent nature of the operation.

Mahama’s actual position: The stark contrast

The fraudulent tweets stand in sharp contrast to President Mahama’s authentic speech at the Africa Prosperity Dialogue, where he stated:

“The fourth industrial revolution presents a golden opportunity for Africa to leapfrog traditional development models… Digital transformation can drive financial inclusion. It can improve public service delivery and create new opportunities for all our people.”

Remember the tweet that I mentioned was still up? The hackers posted a legitimate video of Mahama’s speech with a contrasting caption, knowing very well that “most people don’t go deeper”

The measured, general statement about digital transformation in the video broadly differs significantly from the specific endorsement of a Solana blockchain platform or memecoin, suggesting the tweets could not possibly represent his actual position.

Institutional failures and chain of responsibility

This incident represents a cascading failure across multiple levels of government and presidential security:

Presidential communications office

The communications team must establish rigorous verification processes for all presidential platforms.

The absence of immediate clarification following the suspicious tweets indicates either disorganisation or, more concerningly, uncertainty about whether the president had actually authorised these communications.

Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the president’s spokesperson is usually quick to post 15-minute long videos responding to supposed misinformation from the NPP, and yet he has been mute so far.

Cybersecurity infrastructure

Ghana’s national cybersecurity apparatus appears ill-equipped to protect high-value targets like presidential social media accounts.

This vulnerability extends beyond mere embarrassment to national security concerns, as compromised accounts could be used to spread misinformation during crises.

Financial regulatory oversight

The Bank of Ghana’s silence following the public misrepresentation of its partnership status demonstrates inadequate monitoring of its public image and potential misuse of its authority.

Financial regulators must actively police fraudulent claims of partnership to protect public trust.

Immediate actions required

Given the severity of this breach, immediate actions must include:

1. Presidential office statement: John Mahama’s team must immediately issue an official statement clarifying that the tweets were unauthorised or posted in error, and distance the presidency from the Solanafrica project.
2. Financial authorities’ denial: The Bank of Ghana and Ministry of Finance should publicly deny any involvement with Solanafrica to prevent further damage to institutional credibility and protect citizens from financial fraud.
3. Criminal investigation: A full cybersecurity investigation must be initiated to determine whether Mahama’s account was hacked, identifying both the method of compromise and responsible parties.
4. Public warning campaign: Government agencies should issue comprehensive warnings about the Solanafrica project specifically and cryptocurrency scams generally, providing clear guidance on identifying fraudulent investment schemes.

Beyond immediate crisis response, structural reforms must include:

1. Presidential communications protocol overhaul: Implement stringent verification procedures for all presidential social media accounts, including multi-factor authentication, approval workflows, and regular security audits.
2. Parliamentary inquiry: Establish a parliamentary investigation into the broader cybersecurity vulnerabilities of government communications infrastructure.

This is a watershed moment for digital governance in Ghana

And somehow, I am excited by it, because it might lead to some actual action.

The Solanafrica incident represents a critical juncture for Ghana’s digital governance. As the country increasingly embraces digital transformation, the security of official communications channels becomes paramount. This breach demonstrates that even the highest office is vulnerable to sophisticated digital threats.

President Mahama, who campaigned on promises of accountability and technological advancement, must now demonstrate leadership by addressing this security lapse transparently.

The response to this incident will set a precedent for how Ghana handles cybersecurity threats to governmental integrity in an increasingly digital age.

The ease with which scammers apparently compromised or impersonated presidential communications should serve as a sobering wake-up call. In an era where digital assets and communications increasingly influence national economies and public trust, Ghana cannot afford such fundamental security vulnerabilities at its highest levels of leadership.

This embarrassing episode must catalyse comprehensive reforms to ensure Ghana’s digital infrastructure remains secure, trusted, and resilient against both current threats and emerging challenges in our increasingly connected world.

The post Catastrophic cybersecurity breach sees Prez. Mahama’s Twitter pushing dodgy crypto scheme first appeared on 3News.

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