I didn’t have $12m to investigate Akufo-Addo - Anas

Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has said he did not have $12million to investigate whether or not president Akufo-Addo is corrupt with regards to his Number 12 exposé which uncovered rot in Ghana football.

In the documentary, the resigned president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Kwesi Nyantakyi was captured on video telling a supposed investor to cough up a sum of $12miilion to meet the president to negotiate for government contracts.

Critics of Anas have wondered why the investigative journalist did not follow up on the case to find out if the president would have accepted a proposed $5million that was agreed to be given to Akufo-Addo in exchange for government contracts or not.

Reacting to his critics on Accra-based Joy FM on Thursday, 28 June 2018, Anas said anybody who has issues with it can also take up the responsibility of investigating the presidency.

He said: “Let’s put the investigation in context. How did president Akufo-Addo’s name come in? You speak to somebody, he begins to drop names. He says ok, if you want to speak to the man, you must carry an amount of $12milllion. Where was I going to get $12million? It’s not possible; nobody does an investigation with a budget of $12million.

“The fairness in all this is that somebody has made an allegation, are you giving the other party a fair opportunity of answering those allegations? So yes, then we went to the president and he gave us his side of the story, we went to the vice president, we spoke to all the ministers involved to give us their side of the story, then, we can understand the context which the person used to speak.

“It’s up to anybody who thinks he has issues with it to have to do further interrogation. We are all journalists, we have subjects we look at. If anybody feels that that place was not looked at properly, the person has the right, you can also look there. I know how to do a political story and I know how to do a football story. For God sake, it cannot be the same. They are different subjects.”