Danquah Institute founder, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has revealed that he was one of the “first victims” of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ undercover journalism.
President Nana Akufo-Addo’s relative said Anas “falsely” accused him of preying on female students at the University of Ghana’s Volta Hall way back in 2002, even though he is a fan of the investigative journalist.
In a write-up titled ‘Is Anas entertaining and winning?’, Mr Otchere-Darko expressed qualms about the entrapment method used by Anas and his Tiger Eye PI team and wondered whether his exposés have had any positive impact on the fight against corruption.
Mr Otchere-Darko’s concerns follows the release of Anas’ latest undercover work titled ‘Galamsey Fraud’, which caught a presidential staffer in a comprising position as far as the fight against illegal small-scale mining is concerned.
Read Mr Otchere-Darko’s full piece:
IS ANAS ENTERTAINING AND WINNING?
This piece runs the risk of being misunderstood but I think it is important to ask these questions, anyway. In sum, based on what we know so far, we must seriously examine the work of Anas and his Tiger Eye investigations, specifically on corruption, by asking the provocative question whether or not it is achieving anything remarkable beyond (1) “destroying” the few “unlucky” people who get caught by his trap and (2) offering us great occasional entertainment.
His videos are sensational, especially the promos. We go to the theatre to watch them like how the Romans would get enthralled watching the Gladiators butcher each other. Are these blockbusters really helping us in the fight against corruption? Historically, has government used the “shocking” revelations from Anas’ videos to reprimand enough the individuals culpable and reform enough the institutions involved? I ask these questions with the hope that we will look back critically to help us move forward better.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for naming and shaming. In fact, I am one of Anas’ biggest fans. I was also one of Anas’ first ‘victims’ by the way. Yes, as way back as 2002, he threw his searchlight, which was then on low battery, on me quite mischievously. I was a newspaper editor and he a reporter and also a student at the University of Ghana, who had a satirical column in the Crusading Guide. He once accused me FALSELY (with all the emphasis I can conjure) in his column of regularly joyriding (after Saturday football on Legon campus) predatorily in my small VW convertible around Volta Hall, presumably hunting for a beautiful prey. Of course, we laughed over it as friends. Those days, he was just a normal, ambitious, handsome young man, who did not need a mask and could be seen more easily and often by the Volta Hall ladies.
Jokes aside, I have ten questions to ask about our society and the impact of the “Anas Principle” and I will proceed to explain, where necessary, why the question.
1. First, can Anas share with us his success rate in all his attempts to entrap bad nuts?
Why: In other words, of all the people he has targeted, as an agent provocateur, he must tell us how many Ghanaians were able to resist the lure of the “free cash” he determinedly threw at them. It is obvious that he sets out determined to trap those he targets. If the success rate is extremely high, then one can argue that it is not just the individuals who are bad but that it is the society itself that is rotten to the core.
2. Is it not fundamentally the case that patronage and gift-giving are very much acceptable customs in our society in general and that it is this custom that has been misapplied under contemporary settings?
Why: It seems that in our transition from traditional authority through colonial authority and beyond to this day, we effortlessly and conveniently migrated the custom of taking gifts to the chief’s palace, to the office of the modern day public servant. One leader who sought to consciously preach against this wrong cultural cooption but didn’t hang around long enough to have the required impact was the anthropologist prime minister, Dr K. A. Busia. According to Busia, the normal situation under traditional setting was that a “Chief was wealthy in terms of the services he received, but he could not accumulate capital for his own personal use.” R S Rattray also details the various sanctions that could be applied against officials and chiefs who abused their office. It seems, therefore, that the custom of gift-taking was migrated into the post-traditional setting without the accompanying sanctions. Military rule could not destroy the distorted custom. Successive governments have been unable to curb it. Press freedom appears to be doing more in sensationalising it. In downplaying this critical distorted cultural overhang throughout the generations, gift offering, as either an incentive or a show of gratitude, has become very much the norm in the eyes and minds of, ironically, the very society that would show anger and disgust from watching cash changing hands in Anas’ videos.
3. Is it not time to have a cultural conversation, or if you like, revolution, on ethics, at our homes, schools, places of worship, etc., deliberately designed as a national curriculum to change this seemingly established culture of bribery?
Why: Punishment alone may not be enough if the evidence is such that only a very tiny few get caught and, principally, the vast majority of Ghanaians, if pushed, just may accept a bribe if they feel they can get away with it. In the varicose veins of the matter is that, arguably, Ghanaians have been brought up in a society where it seems to be acceptable to give or take bribes or gifts. How did tiny Singapore do it? The same way an effective remedy can be infectious; accepting bribes is equally infectious, if not more so. I recall the ease with which police officers at checkpoints will call out my name, recognizing me as a lawyer and a journalist, and yet go ahead to demand a tip. I used to find it all so discouraging until I, unfortunately, also got used to the harassment.
4. Do we know or even care to know the difference between a gift and a bribe?
5. Is the public sector conscious of this important difference and are there really any established, sanctionable, observable institutional codes to guide strictly, public servants in their daily official dealings?
Ref: A slogan established by the Centre for Civic Education set up in 1967 and headed by Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia. It said simply: “Don’t accept gifts; they are bribes. Don’t accept bribes, they corrupt”.
6. If the Anas principle were to be applied broadly and indiscriminately across every area of professional activity in Ghana what percentage of Ghanaians would escape the trap?
7. Can we confidently say that things have improved in the places that Anas’ previous investigative work named and shamed?
8. If not, then apart from naming and shaming the few who are caught by it, what good is he doing or what good are we doing with the good he is doing?
9. Can the very journalists critical to winning this fight against corruption say they themselves are not caught in this enduring distorted culture that blurs the lines of gifts and bribes?
Why: When a journalist, who is on the payroll of his employer, covers a programme and is offered an envelope with cash by the programme organiser before the reporter goes back to file his story, is that a bribe or an acceptable appreciation gift? Better still, does the journalist who accept the “soli” see it as a bribe? Or, is it EXCUSABLE because journalists are known not to be paid well and, therefore, rely on “solidarity” envelopes to supplement their meager income?
10. Finally, has Anas and his Tiger Eye become but merely a major blockbuster feature in our national entertainment calendar?
Why: As harsh as it may sound, that is what it looks like in many ways. It is only the judiciary that can be arguably said to have so far taken some serious measures after an Anas video. Even there, the details of reforms are yet to be properly articulated and can we confidently say that the judiciary has since improved on the integrity scale? The FA matters that hit the international media last year are still being looked into and how that may change football administration in Ghana, the people await with skepticism. Not to mention his other exposés.
The expectation is that how we treat Anas’ work as a nation may now change for the better under a president who said nearly a decade ago that he would seek to institutionalise the “Anas Principle” to change the culture of widespread bribery in our public sector to one of FEAR of being caught and punished for it. We wait with bated breath how that institutionalisation will manifest.
Replacing in our society the culture of corruption with a pandemic culture of FEAR OF CORRUPTION under a democratic setting, where the wheels of justice grind boldly may be the only way to cleanse our society for a cleaner future.
Emperor Tiberius infamously offered retired gladiators tantalising cash to persuade them to return to the arena of maimed and death. Many did to die on the sword of others.
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NDC dead brains, What as the President or his party got to do with what you just mention above?. Leave the Npp and Nana Addo from you st upid comments.
Mr Otchere Darko, please don't beat about the ***barred word***. Anas is now a danger to the society. He is like the drug peddlers. He used the more expensive and risky but "quite acceptable" methods of Undercover Journalism such as catching people "red handed" etc which won the admiration of all including Nana Addo and Prof Mills. Once we got addicted to Anas, he switched to his real METHODS! The less expensive, less risky and unethical method of entrapment. He even goes to the extent of blurring certain images and muting the audio in certain critical scenes in his "blockbuster movies". His sole motive now is MONEY. He now lives so luxurious a life that he desperately has to do anything including destroying people just to get there. Unfortunatly, most of his victims (like to referees) have very little chance of giving their side. IN SUMMARY, ANAS DECEIVED GHANAIANS INTO TRUSTING HIM WITH IS INITIAL WORKS. HE IS NOW A SERIOUSLY CORRUPT AND DESPERATE BUSINESS MAN. ANAS IS A DANGER TO THE SOCIETY.
@asgil, i disagree with you. If you are placed in a position of authority, you do not have to receive gifts, inducements, enticements or anything of the sort PERIOD. If it is, therefore, entrapment this time, then next time anyone can give you money to entice you to take decisions which will cause people to fall ill, die and even in their death will be buried like a dog. That is the position of authority that you have been entrusted with. We as a group of people should understand this. Look at this example a doctor who creates a situation where he or she can take bribes. Do you see where I am going? People will die unnecessarily by this action. Now should the doctor be enticed with money? OBVIOUSLY NOT. If the doctor cannot be entrapped, it means he or she will not allow bribery to come an inch close. Our culture will have to change. Where we go cup in hand to borrow money have got people who cannot be enticed or entrapped to take money. Even if someone is so-called entrapped, the person does the honorable thing to resign. What do we do on the other hand? We put up phony excuses and we get people to support that very terrible act. It is the person in authority who have to be upright not Anas.
I knew the NPP top dogs know something about sule's deathh! Anas is making Nana Addo too uncomfortable. It is difficult for darkness to thrive where there is light. A lot of governments have come and gone and yet this one is the only one that is finding it very difficult to coexist with Anas because the level of corruptionn in this government is epic. Never in the history of our democracy has this levels of thieveryy been unleashed on us. Darkness cannot coexist with light, so I'm not surprised that Anas and his workers are under attack.
It's the turn of the politicians...... Now they r raising issues on Anas methods... these plp think we r ***barred word***. We ll rise up one day..corrupt leaders
it seems you're afraid to condemn the method Anas uses. undercover journalist should not participate in the commission of a crime. it simply a set up and blackmailing. Martin Amidu started and at the time he cldnt get the needed support. media foundation for West Africa has also condemned Anas' method and finally Ken has demonstrated that Anas is the most corrupt. A lot of Ghanaians are waiting for a time we will stop Anas from giving moneys to people and filming them and accusing them of being corrupt. today I was at the Baba Yara to watch Kotoko. the common statement people make concerning football is that 'Anas de3 waha yen ooo' and the response people give is 's3 y3 kaa mo se yenka, amanfo) te radio so 3sos) no so'. the govt should demonstrate to us that it is not ready to allow Anas to destroy people this way and clandestinely tell us he's fighting corruption. @Gege, I tell you NPP will win more votes if it's able to deal with Anas. Ghanaians know Anas has become untouchable because he has blackmailed people in authority. if Nana Addo compel Anas to do the right things and ignore his method of giving moneys to people and filming them then it will mean that this govt is clean and is ready to deal with any Ghanaian who will use wrong means to get his work done.People will vote massively for NPP if it is able to crack the whip on Anas. we believe if NDC comes again, they will make Anas more powerful again because we know he was able to blackmail them and that they are afraid to talk against him even if he's doing the wrong things against other Ghanaians. it is clear to us now that Anas is not fighting corruption and we want authorities to let him know that.
Oh so you knew very well that gift in Ghana is a cultural stuff, but when Mahama took a gift for the nation, you termed it corruption. Can you stop this hoax??? Fake news))
It's in your house and under Akufo-Addo administration today so you're justifying and blaming Anas for doing his work by exposing corrupt Govt officials who have been alleged to have been involved in corruption? You think Ghanaians are ready for ur lies again? Well,let's see how it plays out in 2020..