Face to face with Ghana’s ace undercover journalist

 What was it like during your early days in life? I grew up in the military barracks. I was raised under a very strict environment that taught me to obey before complaining. So I took that discipline in me. In the kind of barracks life we led, the responsibility of taking care of oneself did […]

 What was it like during your early days in life?

I grew up in the military barracks. I was raised under a very strict environment that taught me to obey before complaining. So I took that discipline in me. In the kind of barracks life we led, the responsibility of taking care of oneself did not always rest on the parents because we had times where fathers would go on peace keeping missions for a year or two, and we were there all alone. So it was a communal life that ensured that every adult who was living within the barracks in which I grew up would check you as a child. Our schooling and everything were embedded within the barracks, so I was a strict military child. I just did not want to join the military. Therefore, my upbringing was a very strict one.

How about schooling?

 I did my schooling from nursery  up to primary school and junior secondary school in the barracks. Then I left and completed at a day secondary school outside the barracks here in Accra. I then moved on to the Ghana Institute of Journalism and later proceeded to the University of Ghana. I eventually went to the law school to become a lawyer.

I understand that after your graduation from the University you were offered appointment with the government owned Ghanaian Times  ,but you turned it down and rather opted to work with a private newspaper-the Crusading Guide, why?

That is quite true; I got a placement with the Ghanaian Times which was government owned during the time of President Jerry Rawlings, but I felt it was not like the Crusading Guide which is more vibrant. In those days the Times was more of a government mouthpiece because we were living under a pseudo military government. So I felt that if there were any challenges at all, the best place was the private newspaper like the Crusading Guide. More so by the time I came out of school my editor was in jail and I felt it was a very challenging moment, where one could get a good opportunity to learn the hard way. At my newspaper what we do there is what we call the ‘iron culture journalism’ which is based on hard facts. And it was based on hard facts all because of the kind of orientation of my boss, Abdul Malik, who was always given to strict rules. If he said A then that stood. So I would say all these things dovetailed to make me who I am today.

Having grown up in the military barracks what informed your decision to become a journalist rather than being a soldier?

I guess that the pendulum gradually started shifting when constitutional rule and democracy became the order of the day in the world. Those days there were a lot of coups in Africa and Nigeria had its fair share including Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and Burkina Faso; all in  the West African region. So eventually the people or the Africans realized that the best way for us was to opt for democracy.  At that time I felt that the choice between the military and journalism and the law, I was better off as a journalist. Ordinarily, the military had had a field day and it was arbitrary; there was lawlessness and so on. I wanted to make a change and I felt journalism and law would be the best.

Having opted for journalism you chose a path that is less travelled by journalists, especially in Africa; why did you opt for the undercover kind of investigative journalism?

My journalism is hinged on three cardinal principles: naming, shaming and jailing and the reasons are very simple. We live in a continent where we have businessmen who would do everything to protect their business interest. We live on a continent where even the media can sometimes be cowed into docility by the powers that be. There are countless occasions when media outfits had to stop to fight. So what would be the basis that would absorb the journalists hook line and sinker. And I felt that to be truthful and honest to  society, the best way was to seek for hard core evidence that is  impeccable; evidence that can stand the test of time and even be proven in the court of law. So that is why I do what I am doing; hard core evidence that speaks for itself. Even if you die for it, you leave a long lasting legacy for people to see that you set out not only to be vindictive against people ,but to be truthful and honest  for people to believe that if you said something was blue, then it really was. That informed the basis but that is one leg. I also more or less collaborate with state institutions and I do so for a very simple reason. We are in a young democracy in Africa for now, and our judicial, executive; legislative as well as even our legal systems, are not properly working as a result of lack of funds and many other issues. So if we are all determined to clean up society, I see no reason why I should finish an investigation and not call the police to come and help me do an arrest; there is nothing absolutely wrong with that. My kind of journalism is a product of the society because that is what society wants. Society wants a clean environment and they don’t care how you give them that cleanliness. Everybody wants to sleep with two eyes closed; not with one open and I keep saying that the best way of doing this is to team up. I know there are dangers in doing this.If you are not careful you are going to be manipulated, but I believe we are always enjoined by our professional code that tells us that the fact that I am collaborating with state institutions, does not mean that those state institutions have editorial advantage over the work I do. I have done many important jobs for this country;and  I have collaborated with heads of state in doing investigations. For me, the honesty in this is to make it public and in any case in the West who tells you that their work is done in a vacuum? Have you ever wondered who sponsored them?  We are in a mushrooming democracy and the kinds of problems we have in Africa are perilous; they are about human lives. Therefore, if you don’t make that move, that human life would not live to survive it. We are not doing stories about butterflies here in Africa; we are dealing with stories of human trafficking, stories of hunger and poverty. So that is one story that impacts on the lives of thousands of people. Those one million dollars that the politician would steal can build thousands of boreholes for many people in the community, so you can see that we are in a hurry in Africa here to put in place fundamental structures for our people. I am not saying journalism about butterflies and worms is not important, but at this time in our lives on our African continent, I beg your pardon, it is not our priority; it is their priority. I respect my colleagues in the west but down here in Africa we don’t have time for that. Don’t get me wrong, there is a history in America and the UK, they have also gone through this metamorphosis and that is what they did to make their countries great. So, if we are now contributing our quota to make our country great for posterity to smile at our legacy, they should not criticize us. We live with our people and we know the problems our people face. I won’t sit down for anyone to come from London or the US and tell me what journalism is. I know how hungry my mother is; it is not them who would tell me what it is. I know it and I will do it my way because it works. As far as I know the results are palpable; many people are in jail. For me the end justifies the means and like I keep saying, extreme remedies are the most appropriate for extreme diseases.

What was your first undercover investigation and what was the motivation behind it?

My first undercover report was the Burger Story. I went in as a hawker selling peanuts on the streets. There were two stories there; the police were taking bribes from unlicensed people and allowing them to hawk illegally. There were some bad guys who were involved, so I was doing a kind of monitoring. I remember when the story broke it was first published in the middle pages, and there was a program on our Joy channel, and my editor was forced to make the story a lead story and for me that gave me a lot of strength.

Which other major undercover investigations can you remember?

There are so many of them. I have done undercover work  in a psychiatric hospital. I have done undercover as a priest in a Bangkok prison. I have gone undercover as a reverend. I have gone undercover at the Tema Harbor which exposed fraud and corruption at one of Ghana’s key points  of entry. For me, all of them come strongly because it is all about the impact. The more I look back and see that I have gone to court to testify in those investigations about human trafficking and that those pilfering the national treasury have been sent to jail, it makes me feel satisfied that Africa would rise again. I am very passionate about my brand of journalism, and I always encourage my colleagues, that if we want to make a better society whatever contribution we can make is worth the while.

One major undercover  investigation that you premiered recently in Ghana here which  attracted a lot of interests is the one on corruption in the judiciary, how did you go about it?

Two years ago I embarked on that undercover  investigation into the judiciary and I said look this is what informed me to do that report  ,and I don’t want us to even restrict it to Ghana. I am a very studious person; before I embark on an investigation I read a lot. I read about the continent and the wars we have been experiencing, and I started asking myself some questions. For instance, if a Tutsi stole the sheep of a Hutu and the Hutu took the Tutsi to the court and the court said that the Hutu did not steal a sheep, it creates chaos and anarchy! Maybe if the court had been fair because they were not influenced and the Hutu had given the sheep back to the Tutsi, then we wouldn’t be where we are. Look at the land disputes on the African continent; especially Nigeria- the wars, Biafra- all of them you will see that there is an inherent problem with our African judiciary. Read South Africa, the Apartheid system, fights between blacks and whites how the rulings go. I realized that our judiciary on the continent is sick ,so how do we cure that disease? Don’t get me wrong, there are good ones though. Sadly, the corruptible ones had remained corruptible over the years and their activities are demoralizing the good ones. So I asked the question, how do we cure this in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe? So for two years I went undercover in Ghana , and after that I got over 200 people caught in bribery, 34 judges and the rest were court officials. Judges don’t operate in a vacuum. At least I am very satisfied with what has happened in Ghana; for we have taken the bull by the horns as a people. We have brought the bad ones before a fair judicial committee where they have access to their lawyers. I also stood there with strict proof and by the end of the day obtained a ruling, and as we speak the committee is still ongoing, and after that, criminal prosecution would be brought against them. This is how you grow society; it is not all in one day, it takes time and as journalists if we want to remain lazy we will never correct those ills in our society. That is the motivation with regards to the undercover work on the judiciary in Ghana. It is not just about Ghana; I felt that it would open our eyes to other parts of Africa, because if we correct our judiciary system, half of Africa’s problems are solved.

Tell me about the undercover reports you have done on Nigeria?

I did undercover on baby factories in the Eastern part of Nigeria. I collaborated with a Nigerian journalist, Rosemary Nwaebuni and we were trying to track those who sell babies. I know that the Nigerian government had done a lot, but what I set out to do with my Nigerian colleague was to visit the system and see whether what had been done so far had gone down well. What I did was to film all the negotiations to see where the babies were ,and that was put together in a 30 minutes documentary called Baby Farms which was aired on Aljazeera. That is one investigation I am so proud of, and I like to point out that I don’t work alone because this work is about sharing ideas. Just as I collaborate with my brothers and sisters in Nigeria when they come to Ghana, we also collaborate with them. I have also done Fake Doctors which was another strong story, but I know that there are still bigger stories coming from Nigeria. I don’t know about the judiciary of Nigeria, but I am worried because Nigeria is the light of this continent. I am a Ghanaian but I am fair enough to tell you that Nigeria is like a colossus, so my services to Nigeria are more meaningful than any other part of this continent. The rest of this continent looks up to Nigeria which is almost like a home to me.

What major challenges have you faced in the course of doing undercover investigations?

Of course, the challenges are there; you risk your life because people would want to get at you because you are saying the most sensitive and uncomfortable things. But the bigger challenge is being able to finance. I am a freelancer, a private investigator. I pull resources from everywhere to be able to do my story and I am not ashamed of it. In Africa we don’t have the kind of funds that the BBC or CNN has, but there are also genuine people who are committed to helping in this course. There are certain stories that if businessmen don’t help the journalists they will never get them done. How can you tell a Nigerian or Ghanaian journalist to do a nationwide investigation on corruption? Where is he going to put the funds together from? So people ought to understand that if they decide to sit where they are and don’t come out to help, we are not going to move anywhere. And for us the journalists, we also have to be honest with people who want to help us and to do the work with our hearts, so that the work stands the test of time. We have to help each other or else we won’t tell the real stories of this continent. 

Why have you chosen to remain anonymous?

Anonymity is my security weapon.It  is not as a result of fear but it would be stupid to expose or give yourself all out, so that tomorrow the story that you are so willing to tell you cannot be able to do it. We are so few on the continent doing undercover and I am encouraging more people to join me and I pray that we survive all the attacks to tell our stories.

Sometime in November last year the BBC claimed to have unmasked you during an interview, was that your face?

Now that you are sitting next to me you certainly would realize that it was not my face, it was a prosthetics but they were keen on seeing my face.

Are you invincible?

No! I have heard that in many African counties it is said that I have the power to disappear; that if you shoot me the bullet doesn’t penetrate and that I am metaphysical. That was even deepened by a story where a man was raping a girl and said all of a sudden he saw me standing there. So everybody is saying what they want to say, but journalism is not rocket science; everything is simply planned and executed. It is careful and diligent planning and timing is very important. So it is not different from what anybody does, except that I am a very patient person and I pay attention to details. I am not a trigger happy journalist. Just because you have done three things you are happy. I want bigger investigations because they have far reaching implications on the continent ,so when I am dealing with anybody I tell them lets be patient.

Some people have faulted the methods you deploy in your investigations; what is your reaction to such critics?

They are in their own world. I live here in Africa and I won’t allow anybody from the west to tell me what our problems are. Look at them, very comfortable people, strong army, strong judiciary. Sometimes their journalists don’t even do the story; by the time you send them the questionnaire they have finished investigating the entire matter. In the west do you know what the criminals say? They say we know when we steal they will catch us but how long it will take them to catch us is what we are dodging. So they have developed a somehow perfect system that is able to cushion the wrongs. It is not because we cannot do it; it is a matter of time. For us as a people of this continent if we don’t commit ourselves to doing the right things on this continent, we won’t get to where they are today. If we stop doing what we do, posterity will not forgive us; our forefathers did what they did by fighting for our independence, now is the time for us to make life worth living. Why someone should be going to bed and feel that this criminal is coming to kill me, no! We have a police force that should be able to protect us.

Looking around your office I see that you have got an edifice that is well equipped, how do you get your funding?

I have been into journalism for some time and I am very committed into using my little resources to get the best of equipment. I am married to my work. I don’t have a holiday. So over the year whatever I have made is what I put together to set up my office and this is just the main office. I come here only two days in a week. The rest of the week  I spend time in shanty towns where I have smaller offices, because that is the hub of information. Our offices are dotted across the length and breadth of Ghana.

Can you tell me about your family?

I don’t talk about my nuclear family for security reasons.

What advice would you want to give out to journalists who would like to be like you?

I want to encourage my colleagues; it is not always that you need money to do a story. Sometimes, it is sad to know that our workplace is just three minutes to a place where something is happening and we do nothing. Sadly, it is that same place that foreigners are taking flights to come to do stories even though we pass there every day and go to work, without bothering about those stories. We think that if we have to do that story somebody must hold bulk money to give to us before we go; we forget that every day we pass there. So we allow our stories to be told by foreigners when we can tell them better, so my advice is that we have to make sacrifices. There were days that I didn’t have food on my table; I had to sacrifice to buy a hidden camera. This is what we all ought to be doing if we want to make a difference. We have to be more serious and stop saying that even if we do it nothing will work. Secondly, the businessmen on the continent must help us to fight crime, because if they don’t do so one day it would tumble on them. Let them identify the serious journalists in their area and empower them with the necessary resource or skills. They may not necessarily give them money, but buy them equipment so that they can go into the hinterland and bring out the good stories that would make this continent look good. There are certain stories that we will never be able to tell without assistance,so I urge them to assist us in sacking all these corrupt people in the continent.

What would you want to be remembered for?

I want people to remember me for my brand of journalism; naming, shaming and jailing.