'When the body bends the shadow also bends' - the ‘Messianism of Anas'

Just as I was about to give myself a break from questioning and challenging the Messiahship of the one and only ace Ghanaian investigative journalist of the century, Mr Anas Aremeyaw Anas, one of my fans persuasively requested me to put across his views on Anas to the Ghanaian public. As a "friend in need is a friend indeed", I could not turn down his request hence this publication.

Anas in my view, had been so consumed by vanity and insatiable greed to only end up becoming like the proverbial "dog and its shadow". The famished dog was lucky to find a bone big enough to quench its hunger. However, when it was hurtling across a river to the other side to enjoy the bone, while on the bridge, it spotted another dog in the river underneath with a bone in its mouth. As greedy as it was, it decided to drop the bone in its mouth to attack and grab the other bone from the other dog it had sighted, in order to have two bones to himself. Little did it know that it was its own shadow seen in the river with a bone in its mouth? As soon as it let go the bone, the bone fell into the river. It then saw that the other dog, which indeed it was its own shadow, had no longer any bone in its mouth. Greed and "all for me but nothing for you", cost the real dog its bone, therefore going hungry the whole day. This in the view of my fan, myself and many discerning Ghanaians, is gradually becoming the portion of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, if he does not amend his crooked ways for the better.

The body representing all institutions including the legal systems, the Ghanaian media etc., like the human body, can function well when its various organs are performing healthily and in coordination. The brain, heart, liver, kidney, eyes, pancreas, etc. must each be sound to maintain a healthy working human body. Systems, being the component parts of a whole all work and/or complement each other to reach an equilibrium. Systems thinking describe this process as "homeostasis", thus, "any analogous maintenance of stability or equilibrium, as within a social group; or the tendency to maintain, or the maintenance of, normal internal stability in an organism by coordinated responses of the organ systems that automatically compensate for environmental changes"

The lack of responsible coordination within and between our governing institutions in Ghana, is the major cause of all the teeming crimes, the creation of human monsters, lawlessness and abundance of official corruption fast tracking the annihilation of the country without us knowing until it is too late.

Ghana as a country and Ghanaians, individually or collectively, have continued to follow blindly from time immemorial and as if adopting the “obey the wind attitude and approach", continue to be blown aside like a chaff. We always resign ourselves to fate to allow it to carry us wherever it wants to unlike our white contemporaries who bend fate to suit them. While the whites have not only by curiosity but normal practice and common knowledge question why things happen the way they do, taking those to whom they have entrusted with power and responsibilities to task, in Ghana, we only swallow whatever is thrown to us hook, line and sinker, thus, believe it completely.

Without a consolidated approach in our thinking, we shall continue to follow blindly whatever is presented at any point in time by the political leaders, the civil services which is the central arm of the government, etc. and more importantly, the media houses. Thus, this obey the wind character sketch has continued to shape our way of thinking and behaviour from time immemorial. No doubt bribery and corruption have characterised our way of behaviour and our thinking. The trotro driver thinks it’s okay to tip the police Gh1.00 whenever he is flagged down on the road; the police on the other hand thinks it’s an obligation and will fight the trotro driver openly if they stand their ground of not giving the tip, seeing it as bribery. A case in point is the recent Mallam/Kasoa road incident where a trotro driver and his mate pummelled a police officer.

The Messiahship of Anas and his operations in recent times have been the talk of the town, venerated as the sole effective efforts to fighting corruption in Ghana until his modus operandi got challenged by the firebrand Kennedy Agyapong (Hon). Anas has woefully failed to come out to challenge Kennedy‘s presentation so as to redeem himself. One would have thought that Anas could have come out with counter evidence in respect of all that the Rt. Honourable had raised against him and the concomitant hard evidence. It also raises quizzical eyebrows why the law enforcement agencies have sat unconcerned as all the evidence brought against Anas borders on crime.

Could Kennedy Ohene Agyapong be tight in his assertion that Anas wields influence in most sectors of the country? Or, the interplay of the one-eyed blind man allowing the pot call the kettle black? When the body bends, the shadow also bends, indeed. Laws are not working in Ghana, things are falling apart and the centre cannot hold. Subsequently, any criminal who stands a bit tall is considered a hero and a saviour otherwise, Anas should have thoroughly been investigated following the premiering of the credible exposure of the self-incriminating investigations into corruption on him by Kennedy Agyapong (Hon) titled, and “Who watches the watchman".

It is my view that for Ghana to be successful in its economic development there ought to be a complete shake up in all areas of governance. Anas ought to be thoroughly investigated if he is taking the country for a ride and enriching himself instead. Any investigation from Anas without a detailed video footage from beginning to the end ought to be rejected and he must be arrested to explain why?

SUGGESTIONS & ADVICE:

1. The state apparatus must take on board all the videos at Ken’s disposal.

2. To interview all victims of Anas.

3. National announcement for all whose lands have been taken from them by Anas to come forward.

4. State apparatus to visit the plot of lands as shown in Ken’s video as having been forcibly taken from individuals by Anas. Undertake checks to find out their original owners and how Anas acquired them?

5. For Anas to explain when, how, and from whom he became aware of Ahmed Suale’s death?

6. What was his immediate reaction about the assassination of Ahmed Suale, his employee, friend and co-investigator?

7. What was his motive for the information he placed on social media about Kennedy regarding Ahmed Suale’s murder and why?

8. What has he done to investigate the death and if not, why? Did he make any contact with the police given that Ahmed used to do all his dirty work unmasked? Why was Ahmed not wearing mask in the processes of their investigations but Anas? If the mask worn by Anas is to protect him from being identified by the public to guarantee his safety, why did he not do same for Ahmed? By failure to ensure Ahmed wore mask, was Anas not deliberately or otherwise endangering his (Ahmed’s) life and safety as later incident of his death confirms?

9. Who is the other person who went to the police to seek protection following Ahmed’s death and what did Anas do about this and why? Anas should be asked to explain why this person would go to the police to seek protection?

10. What action did the Ghana police take about the yet to be publicly known person who ran to them for protection alarmed by Ahmed’s assassination? If they took no further action but to find him a hiding place, the police must explain why? Could it be that the police are in cahoots with Anas as has been alleged by Kennedy?

11. To date has Ghana police interviewed Anas and his employees as part of the Ahmed investigation and if not why? Is this deliberate, shirk of responsibility, incompetence, unsophisticated or they are emphatically in cahoots with him?

CONCLUSION:

From the way the Ghana police often exhibit their incompetence in conducting successful criminal investigations leading to arrest, prosecution and convictions, but fondly publicly depicting their extravagance for collecting bribes from drivers, it is no wonder that Anas’ modus operandi is hailed and celebrated by many a Ghanaian who is clueless about any effective alternative to fighting corruption.

From “Who watches the watchman” I can claim on authority that any good works by Anas are completely negated, paling to nothing. His jobs are analogically like the poo of the lizard, starting with white and ending in black. Failing to challenge the authenticity of the revelations in “Who watches the watchman” that implicates him in crimes of extortion, entrapment, blackmailing and corruption, it is only ethically incumbent upon him to return any awards he has won back to their owners.

Shamefully, Ghana as polarised in partisanship, with the weaker institutions and individuals unable to come together to find a common ground to solving the country’s problems, quacks like Anas will rise to feed fat, play on our intelligence, divide us to conquer and finally amass illegal wealth and power.

Ghana in our current state is teeming with blind men hence the one-eyed Anas becoming a king to whom everybody bows and is scared shitless of. He fits rightly into the proverbial “pot calling the kettle black” until he comes clean of his wrongdoings like biblical Zacchaeus, the dubiously rich tax collector who after encountering Jesus decided to return in double portion to whomever he had wrongly taken anything from.

Finally, I throw a challenge to the government, the ministry of interior, local government in terms of the lands acquisition by Anas; the BNI and the police for sitting unconcerned and their lackadaisical attitude and/or seeming relationship with Anas which in itself amounts to corruption, to properly subject Anas to scrutiny.

Let us learn from the following song, **SIMPLICITY - PRINCE NICO MBARGA AND ROCAFIL JAZZ** in case we could all change our despicable characters for the better. We should cease adoring criminals.