Ghana’s best known investigative journalist and crime-buster extraordinaire, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, has taken a total of 123 days to surgically open the belly of the Tema port, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and allied agencies, to expose filth and rot.
The dare-devil’s over 100 day effort is captured in a very informative audio-visual this writer has been privileged to watch ten times over to be properly acquainted with the intimate details of how men in uniform allegedly milk the state dry of its deserved revenues.
Very soon the clip will be played on national Television to bring to Ghanaians the faces the alleged dark conspiracies to turn the port of Tema into a goldmine for private pockets, and veritably so.
Titled ‘ENEMIES OF THE NATION’, the audio-visual would make a very presentable New Years gift to the President, Professor John Atta-Mills, who has been to the Tema port to tell workers to make the interest of the state supersede any other interest, personal or parochial.
The spectator will only want to steal a little bit of meat from Anas’ soup-pot. The content of the entire pot of soup will be served hot and sizzling to Ghanaians on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, when the grandmaster himself holds the ladle to dish it all out in the pages of the New Crusading Guide, edited by Abdul Malik Kweku Baako.
Readers will certainly be intrigued by how Anas first managed to infiltrate the strong room to scalpel out and bare the financial anatomy of CEPS, various agencies, importers and how they have either deliberately or inadvertently milked Mother Ghana over the years.
How did Anas get the password to open up one of the jealously guarded financial security vaults to get information to aid his work? Did the password come to mind in a dream, or did he snake-charm it out of someone?
We are also talking about passionate investigator and spy journalist who set up four well-drilled teams, each equipped with vital investigative tools for a specialised operation.
To whet the appetite of our numerous readers who will be yearning to read the complete story on February 2, this writer presents exactly what the teams set up by Anas sought to unravel:
- Why the nation has been incurring revenue losses from the operations of the Tema Harbour.
- The faces behind the revenue haemorrhage.
- The various tricks employed by clearing agents, CEPS officers and other players in the port area to milk the state.
- The faces of officers who took bribes from agents and other clients.
- The procedures for clearing goods from the port to their final destinations and any challenges and/or corrupt acts involved.
To achieve his aim, Anas’ teams bounced into action. The scorpions moved, scanning the electronic systems of a very important institution.
The Spiders were busy at the eastern gate of the harbour, spying on agents and CEPS officers, obviously with hidden cameras. The Leopard team posed as importers and decided to clear a container and a car to expose the extent of fraud in the clearing of goods.
Perhaps, the most formidable team was the Spice Girls who tried to find out whether or not CEPS officials colluded with criminals in the clearing of goods, including what was happening with GCNet as well as the numerous disappearances of goods of importers at the port.
The Spice Girls uncovered how the state lost millions of Ghana cedis in the dubious auction of goods in the state warehouses.
Was there also any hint of sexual harassment of lady clients?
The scale of fraud perpetrated against the state, and the collusion of port officials, is just mind-blowing.
Stay tuned to Citifmonline.com for the full story on Wednesday February 2.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
