The world has not seen the likes of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and I am not sure there will be another like him in quite a while. A lawyer who disguises as a Saudi Sheikh and camouflages himself as a rock, and no, he is no supporting actor in a television sitcom. Anas, based out of his native Accra, Ghana, encountered rampant societal evils in and around his country, and his response to those evils was to embrace unorthodox undercover investigative journalism. Clearly cutting away from the mainstream, dumbed down, market driven journalistic practices and the hollow promises of highbrow talking head journalism, Anas puts forth simple and lucid principles that govern his kind of journalism, namely: Naming, Shaming and Jailing. Purists may cringe, but I must say, I tend to nod my head in agreement this time, when Anas articulates that the ends justify the means. Anas’s work is governed by a moral compass, so to say, in his relentless pursuit of the unmasking of societal ills and evils and in particular the perpetrators and collaborators of such ills and evils, from human trafficking to human rights violations to corruption in high office, to superstitions and blind beliefs. His drive to harvest ‘hard core evidence’ to create the maximum progressive, positive impact in society, is laudable. You may not agree with all of his methods, but you cannot escape the efficacy of his work, which has very often led to the conviction of the accused. Living through death threats cannot be easy, but as Anas Aremeyaw Anas puts it “…when evil men destroy, good men must build and bind.” May your tribe increase.

In conversation with Jefferson Sackey. September, 2015.

TED. May, 2013.