Live from the woods: Only lazy minds will believe $8m Mahama story

It will take one with a lazy mind to trust the source of the $8million financial support allegedly given to ex-president John Mahama by some investors ahead of the 2016 general elections.

The story could have been believable it if it had originated from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP). Considering the claim was first made by an embattled football administrator makes it all the more unbelievable.

The story is not real and has to be discarded.

I think the matter shouldn’t have spawned a fiery debate in the country if the media had done a good job by going beyond the statement the Ghana Football Association (GFA) president Kwesi Nyantakyi gave to the police during his arrest over Anas’ latest expose into football administration in Ghana.

I’m convinced the major issue with our media is not one of lack of information but rather how to effectively communicate a message to the public that reflects all the sides there are to any subject matter.

Sadly, discussions and media reports around Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s Number 12, so far, have helped to expose the quality and depth of most of the men and women who address themselves as journalists.

It’s puzzling to know that almost everyone who watched the excerpt of Anas’ film that was screened to a privileged few in Ghana, including president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has bought into the story. And the media, too, see the claims in the film as the sacred truth.

Worst is that the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) statement allegedly given by Mr Nyantakyi on the matter has been prized by the same media, who are supposed to be interrogating every claim.

In the statement widely reported in the media, the GFA president alleged some investors he met told him they had given $8million financial support to the NDC and Mr Mahama during the 2016 general elections. But an interrogation of this submission should have taken into account the context under which the supposed investors made the claim.

It shouldn’t have been difficult for the media to know that the so-called investors who succeeded in twisting the arms of Mr Nyantakyi are nothing but accomplices of Anas. They are all members of Tiger PI.

First, these men who poached the GFA president in the name of investing in Ghana weren’t real investors as they had claimed. We know they concocted and said so many things to influence Mr Nyantakyi and his colleagues to cross the moral boundary.

Gleaning from the available information, it should be easy for anyone to conclude that the claim by the supposed investors that they had supported Mr Mahama’s 2016 reelection was purely false and has no inherent truth.

What is true is that neither the ex-president nor his campaign team received any money from these fake investors.

It’s apparent the issue was presented to Mr Nyantakyi in order to corrupt his character to behave in a certain manner that suited the investigators.

It would have been easy to believe the $8million Mahama support story if it had been told by either the NDC or NPP but not an embattled GFA president.

Although Anas deserves special commendation for exposing some alleged corrupt people in the society, I think his method of investigation is morally and ethically wrong.

I have said and it bears repeating that I do not subscribe to sting journalism as a way of purging the society of both corrupt private and public officials.

I think the use of secret cameras and entrapment by investigative journalists is a lazy substitute for conventional journalism that guarantees an in-depth exploration of issues.