Anas Aremeyaw Anas: Ghana’s undercover journalist exposing corruption

Ghanaian undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has become notable for exposing corruption in Ghana. His undercover film, Number 12 exposed corruption in the Ghana Football Association. The revelation of corruption in the Ghana Football Association led to referees, and officials of the association losing their jobs and facing charges.

Anas who operates based on anonymity has also been involved in handling other societal issues in other countries including Tanzania where he did an undercover film, The Spell of the Albino, on those hunting down people with albinism. Anas who’s shown himself to be extremely brave tracked those involved in using the body parts of people with albinism, leading to the arrest of some of the culprits.

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Anas doesn’t only operate in Ghana. In Malawi, he did another undercover operation, Malawi’s Human Harvest where he followed the trail of human body parts used for rituals. Some of these operations he does, are undoubtedly  risky, like the Malawian investigative story, where he nearly lost his life.

In a continent where it is important to get evidence, Anas not only gets evidence, he also makes sure that those caught go to jail. His mantra is to name, shame and jail the bad guys. When former US President Barack Obama spoke at Ghana’s parliament in July 11, 2009 he commended Anas as, “a courageous journalists like Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who risked his life to report the truth.”

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In 2015, Anas uncovered 34 Ghanaian judges in a corruption scandal, including 12 judges at the high court. The corruption scandal shook the foundations of Ghana’s judicial system. Anas has consistently said, “there is no point in doing journalism, if it does not lead progress in your society.”

While Anas faces a lot of criticism for his style of journalism, there is no doubt about how effective his work has been on the larger society. The late Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General praised the Ghanaian journalist saying, “Sometimes it takes a spark, just a spark, and I think Anas has provided that spark for the whole edifice to blow up.”