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Sona Avagyan

Famous Journalist Behind the Beads: Many Know His Name, But Not the Face

Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, from “The New Crusading Guide” newspaper, says that within a month after his undercover investigation had been published, $200 million in unpaid taxes were paid to the state budget of the country.

Everything started this year with the famous and award-winning journalist receiving a call on his mobile from President John Atta Mill of Ghana.

Ports are a heavy revenue collection area in Ghana, and the president told Anas that there was a problem with tax clearing at the ports because instead of paying proper taxes to the state budget businessmen who imported goods paid smaller bribes.

Everybody knew that state institutions were corrupt. The president was often confronted with questions about corruption from civil society. But the institutions responded - “We don’t think we are corrupt, because there is no evidence. If you say we are corrupt, show us the evidence.”

“So the president said ‘Can you show me evidence of their corrupt activities?’ The president wanted me and my team to go and see who the ones taking the bribes are,” Anas said, recalling his conversation with the president.

The journalist went undercover as a tax clearing agent to a big shipment company in Tema Harbour which is in charge of administering everything in the ports and worked there for 3 months. Anas was the head of a team consisting of 5 journalists from the same newspaper. They started an investigation and witnessed how big-time businessmen paid bribes instead of taxes. The journalists filmed large-scale corruption transactions with their hidden cameras.

Anas made a documentary film called "Enemies of the Nation: The Dark Secrets of Tema Harbour" which was aired by all the TV stations in Ghana. The corrupt officials exposed in the documentary were subjected to disciplinary hearings and fired immediately. They all paid back to the state what they had stolen over years.

When asked if the president was really not aware who took bribes and was not himself a part of the corruption chain, the Ghanian journalist answered: “It is not easy to tell how honest or how corrupt a president is. But at least the president implements an initiative declaring ‘I think there is corruption in government, come and help me clean the government’, then we should give that president some level of integrity and some level of honour.”

Anas adds that John Atta Mill is a legitimate president and that he didn’t falsify the elections. He won the election with 51 % of the vote. His competitor received 49 % of votes. Despite the narrow margin they “didn't go to war.”

The journalist doesn’t feel that the president had his own interests and sought retribution from those oligarchs for personal reasons. He thinks that the president was genuinly interested in exposing the crime, proof of which can be seen in the actions he took.

“This was necessary and had to happen in the country. And I was glad that it happened and it happened to me and the whole country was quite happy about it because it affected every single individual,” Anas Anas says.

He says that $200 million may not sound like a lot for the US or Britain, but for his country it’s a huge sum which can do much in the villages of Ghana.

The journalist says that the president chose him to do the job and not the police or secret services, because these institutions didn’t work well. The president has control over police and secret services, but “who watches the watchman?”

“When you have the problem and you don’t know what to do with it, there is nowhere you can go to stop it, then you look for means that nobody suspects,” is how the journalist explains the president’s decision to apply for his help.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas has done a number of other similar undercover investigations. He has gone undercover in a psychiatric hospital and in a Bangkok prison as a Catholic priest. He has also gone undercover as a street vendor, and as a woman in an orphanage where kids were dying because of ill-treatment and ended up exposing all the wrongs in the orphanage.

Anas has been covering his face since he started working as an investigative journalist 12 years ago. He says he is the only Ghanaian journalists to cover his face.

“I think that everybody is a potential threat when it comes undercover. But the key theme is that my identity is not known, the name is known, but they don't know the face that goes with the name,” Anas says.

He covers his face whenever there are cameras. He doesn’t have photos where his face is uncovered. Though people know Anas’ name, they don’t know what he looks like.

He doesn’t mask his face in everyday life when he walks in the streets alone, with his family or friends.

Covering the face with beads doesn’t cause inconvenience to Anas Anas, because he has been doing it for many years. He realized that beads are the best way of masking your face in a way that you can also see through. The journalist says using beads is perhaps his invention because he didn’t copy it from anyone.

Oligarchs have often tried to find out who Anas is, what he looks like, but he has a very strong network and has managed to “protect his identity for 12 years.”

To watch "Enemies of the Nation: The Dark Secrets of Tema Harbour" click here.

Comments (4)

VAHAN
karcum em G. Shamshyan@ ,ete hancnararutyun stana, aznvoren kkatari u glux el khani.
DAVID
Hayastanin shtap Ganayic porci poxanakum e petk.
Վահագն
Լավ մեթոդ էր, բայց եթե մեր մոտ այդպիսի բան արվեր, արդյոք նման կերպ լրագրողը փողի կուրացնող լույսի ներքո չէր դառնա կաշառակեր, կամ կաշառակերությունը քողարկող: Որ մի լրագրողը կարա գարանտիա տա, որ ... էլ չեմ ասում: Մենակ չասեք, Հետք` դուք և ձեր բոլոր լրագրողները կանեին, ոնց որ պետք է:
Վահե-2
Դրամարկղային կտրոններով շահումները ձախողվեց, աքցիզային դրոշմակնիքները ոչ թե պետությունը այլ մաֆիան է հիմնականում թողարկում, հարկային կոչված հիմնարկության միջոցով թալանվում են պետական միջոցները իսկ սերժիկը չի կռահում զանգել ասենք Գագիկ Շամշյանին ու ասել - Այ տղա մեր երկիրը թալանում են, շտապ մեկնում էս Գանա, հուլունքներ էս ճարում, վերադառնում ու 200 մլն. կորած դոլլար գտնում: Գտած գումարի 50 տոկոսը քեզ պարգևավճար, հետո կկիսվենք:

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