I think, Ghanaians especially I, will be more than willing to listen to anyone who has counter-evidence and may wish to present the other side of the story with regards to this case. However, I will vehemently opposed anyone who wants to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians or embark on a wild goose chase. Though we are yet to witness the screening of Anas' exposè, hopefully tomorrow, I believe that, as descending as Ghanaians are, will like to have an intellectual and civil discourse on this subject matter if there is a need for any. But the contrary is the case that is been witnessed by us. Since Hon. Kennedy Agyapong waded into this, he is said to have been making a lot of inciting comments and disparaging remarks about the personality of Anas Aremeyaw Anas and team members of Tiger Eye PI. I am completely at a lost about the sudden change of behaviour and belief of a man who has taunted his credentials over the years as an anti corruption crusader. This same man has now turned himself into a predator of a monstrous proportion trying hard to devour persons such as Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye PI, who are fighting corruption, mismanagement and safeguarding public interest. This is really absurd, strange and worrying. In his attempt to discredit the investigative piece by Anas and Tiger Eye PI, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong has leveled a litany of corruption allegations and accusation of inappropriate journalistic methods against Anas Aremeyaw Anas including entrapment, blackmailing, extortion, impersonation, baiting and leading unsuspecting individuals to committing crimes. He further went on to call on members of the public to unleash terror and mayhem on Anas Aremeyaw Anas and the crew members of Tiger Eye PI. I can best describe this behaviour of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong as ignominy and intolerance of the highest order.
Ghanaians especially those in the journalistic fraternity are fully aware of the integrity of their work and understand the ethics and standard practice of their profession. I want to reiterate the fact and assure the public that, Anas Aremeyaw Anas is not doing anything outside the confines of undercover and investigative journalism. As a matter of fact, the method employed by Anas, Aremeyaw Anas to the best of my knowledge and as far as Ghana is concerned, is not against the principles, practices and ethics of professional investigative journalism, neither does it compromise standards nor causes any infraction in our legal system. Indeed, there is no iota of doubt that, the method Anas Aremeyaw Anas employs is accepted and widely used all over the world. One good example is, The Bank of Credit and Commerce case in 1986, where undercover and infiltration was used as a method of investigation to unearth how the bank actively solicited deposits from drug traffickers and money launderers.
Indeed, to buttress the point that I am espousing, according to the Ghana Journalists Association Code of Ethics, article 5 which deals with respect for privacy and human dignity states, and I quote, "journalists should respect the right of the individual, the privacy and human dignity. Enquiries and intrusion into a person's private life can only be justified when done in public interest. A journalist should guard against defamation, libel, slander and obscenity." Again, article 12 of the GJA further states that, "A journalist shall obtain information, photographs and illustration only by straightforward means. The use of other means can be justified only by overriding consideration of the public interest. The journalists is entitled to exercise a personal conscientious objection to use of such means." These articles from the GJA's code of ethics grant Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye PI unfettered and unlimited right to so employ this method to go undercover to investigate any case that is overridden by public interest such as rumours of bribery and corruption, match fixing scandals, mismanagement and misappropriation.
This since 1999, has been Anas Aremeyaw Anas' method of investigative journalism. And, indeed, he has successfully carried out about 26 undercover investigative works both Ghana and abroad. Notably amongst them are; The Burger Story, Torture on The High Seas, Eurofood Scandal, Torture Chamber of Bangkok Prisons, Passport Scandal, Humans For Sale: Dons Exposed, Imam's School of Shock, Inside Ghana's Madhouse, In The Interest of The State, Orphans Home of Hell - Osu, Enemies Of The Nation, The Prez's Assignment - Stealing the People's Power, Spirit Child, Nigeria's Fake Doctors, Nigeria's Baby Farmers, Ghana judiciary Scandal and the yet to premier scandal on corruption in Ghana football. These investigative works have led to massive reforms in those areas, improvement and some degree of sanity in our society.
The above mentioned articles of GJA's own code of ethics and conduct indicate clearly that, Anas Aremeyaw Anas is not in breach of any ethics of the journalistic profession. For that matter, the allegations of entrapment, masquerading, blackmailing, flirtation, extortion, tax evasion, land litigation etc made by Hon. Kennedy Agyapong are invalid and damn right baseless. I therefore, consider these allegations as pure hatred, jealousy, tangential and diversionary. Hon. Kennedy Agyapong should know that Anas Aremeyaw Anas is not just a mere individual but a complete institution. And, it was not by fluke that president Barak Obama applauded and commended him for his investigative skills and prowess when he visited Ghana in 2009. Hon. Kennedy Agyapong or anyone else who begrudges and annihilates Anas Aremeyaw Anas has no case. My concern however, is flatly and squarely on the angle of his ethnic background been introduced by Hon. Kennedy Agyapong. This is a palpable and an undeniable case of tribal incitement and I want Ghanaians to be particularly worried about these inflammatory comments by this man.
We all know, as a matter of public records and history, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong has a penchant and appetite for making comments that have the potentials of tribal or ethnic incitement in Ghana. I recollect prior to the 2012 general elections, some of his irresponsible, reckless, senseless, felonious and genocidal calls on Akans to brutally descend on Gas and Ewes with clubs, cudgels, pestles and any offensive weapons they can lay hands on. I will like to unequivocally and audibly sound a word of caution to Hon. Kennedy Agyapong not to extend those unguarded statements to Anas Aremeyaw Anas and crew members of Tiger Eye PI. Because, some of us will not sit down for him to rant pranks and tantrums on our kinsmen and indeed, any Ghanaian who is legally and constitutionally doing his or her professional work to help curb, if not nib corruption in our society. Another intriguing aspect of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's unwarranted attacks on Anas Aremeyaw Anas is his uncanny machinations, to pitch Anas Aremeyaw Anas' own tribesmen against him by hiring them to malign Anas publicly on both main and social media. Let Hon. Kennedy Agyapong understand that, we are not so gullible as he imagines and that will not wash. The services of the person he hires can best befit the descriptions of an international criminal, a scammer and a fraudster. This man named Hafiz carries himself around and parades himself as a chief. I challenge Hon. Kennedy Agyapong to find out whether his chieftain has a portfolio in the Gbewaa Palace. A chief of an apology! This is not a threat, but an assurance to Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, that, in the aftermath of his fatwa, should anything bad happen to Anas or any member of Tiger Eye PI, which will be traceable to the reckless, irresponsible pronouncements and unwarranted attacks of his, then, we will advise ourselves by taking appropriate actions in equal proportion if not worse.
I again, want Hon. Kennedy Agyapong and his ilk to understand that Anas Aremeyaw Anas is a full blooded Ghanaian as any of us who has inalienable rights to engage in the journalistic profession and any legally and lawfully allowed businesses of his choice, and make due profits from such ventures. I keenly followed Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's scaring comments and I observed the amount of confusion and the lack of analytical depth in his argument. Some of the analogies he draws are rather laughable if not pathetic. Why is Hon. Kennedy Agyapong only interested in Anas' high rise property and being quizzical and skeptical about their sources. Why is Hon. Kennedy Agyapong so shallow minded and does not have a modicum of interest or yet still bother to find out where Anas gets this huge sums of money to fund his undercover work and, as it were, bait these corrupt people in our society? Is Hon. Kennedy Agyapong suggesting that, for the fact that Anas Aremeyaw Anas is an investigative journalist, he is not paid for work done when institutions commission him to do undercover investigative work for them? Or is he saying that when Anas is paid for work done, he should go and throw the monies into the sea? We all work to get paid, in the same vein, we all do businesses for benefits and profits. So what is Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's stress about Anas Aremeyaw Anas' numerous acquisition of property including high rise buildings in prime areas od Accra.
Also, I would like to state categorically to Hon. Kennedy Agyapong that, brandishing images purporting to be Anas' can never cow him to stopping his lawful work, but rather goes a long way to exposing he - Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's lack of knowledge and appreciation of the good work done by Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Moreover, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's open vituperation does not only make mockery of his competence and intelligence as an enlightened individual and his supposed anti corruption crusade mantra, but cheapens his status, integrity and personality as an honourable member of parliament. Brandishing supposedly images of Anas Aremeyaw Anas on television and social media does not deter or prevent him from his work. How do expose person that you do not know? In any case, who deceived this hyperactive of a politician that Anas Aremeyaw Anas is hiding his identity from the public eye. He should know Anas has family members, friends and colleagues. So how can he possibly hide away from the public lens. If Hon. Kennedy Agyapong cares to know, Anas Aremeyaw Anas' bio data and profile are matters of public knowledge and access. His journalistic professional and business information or records are already in the public domain and in documents of state institutions like Ghana Revenue Authority, SSNIT, Registrar General's Department, Ghana Lands Commission, The Courts and Ghana Journalists Association. So, how on earth can such a person run away from the public?
I would furthermore, like to express my utmost disgust and disbelief in the seemingly disinterest of government to the trolling and castigation of Anas Aremeyaw Anas by Hon. Kennedy Agyapong who is believed by many to be a pivot or fulcrum around whom NPP survives when it comes to the party's finances. The NPP campaigned strongly on the issue of corruption among others to gain Ghanaians' mandate. But it has been conspicuously silent and lacks the temerity to call Hon. Kennedy Agyapong to order. This can be considered as a palpable endorsement of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's baseless and intellectually deficient accusations of Anas. I want to remind the government, especially the president, in his own words, during the IEA presidential debate in the 2012 general elections, then a presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, in his answer to a question about how to stamp out corruption in the system, the president in a muffled but clear voice said and I quote, "The measures are going to be difficult, but there got to be a variety of them including what I called the Anas principle including setting up a highly motivated professional groups of young people who would work,if you like, if it were undercover to unearth examples of corruption wherever they can find them and thereby allow the authority to deal with the issue. Not only do you unearth the corruption, but you actually deal with it in terms of sending people to court, prosecuting them and hopefully the courts will cooperate and make sure the offenders are found guilty and sanctioned appropriately. So, a variety of measures but the key one is the Anas principle..." So one will ask, what has happened to the Anas' principle? i.e., name, shame and jail. If the president really meant what he said and campaigned for, then it would be expected that he called Hon. Kennedy Agyapong to desist from further spewing lies, threats and hatred against the ace investigative journalist.
In conclusion, I would like to proffer a piece of advice to Hon. Kennedy Agyapong to do that which is needful by providing the descending people of Ghana something that is of evidential value and seize being hot air blower. So far all what we have heard from Hon. Kennedy Agyapong lacks coherence and intellectual depth. They are pure stream of vetuperations, invectives and vindictiveness. This smacks an apology of an Honourable member of parliament. Hon. Kennedy Agyapong is overwhelmed by the stream of evidence of Anas' investigative piece, and in his attempt to survive it he clutches to any straw with all the might of his grasp and hope that, he will succeed in running down Anas and Tiger Eye PI. If he thinks Anas Aremeyaw Anas is doing anything unlawful, he should take him on a very intellectual and civil discourse or better still, seek legal action as article 23 of Ghana's constitution permits him the right. "Administrative bodies and administrative officials shall act fairly and reasonably and comply with the requirements imposed on them by law and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions shall have the right to seek redress before a court or other tribunal." I am hundred percent sure that, as a member of parliament of Ghana, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong has everything at his disposal and knows his way to the constitutionally mandated state departments responsible for investigating crimes. So he should resort to the appropriate state institutions such as the law courts and the investigations agencies if he has anything that is of criminal implications by Anas Aremeyaw Anas. He should proceed to the law courts if he thinks Anas' investigative journalistic work has occasioned or impugned any criminality instead of abusing precious air time.
Thank you!
Just Thinking Aloud!
Naa Gbewaah Sidiq's Folder!
No comments:
Post a Comment