Naa Bugri Naabu turned an ‘Investigative Journalist’

According to Ben Bradlee, ‘The truth, no matter how bad, is never as dangerous as the lie in the long run’.

This quotation of Bradlee makes a lot of sense when it comes to Investigative Journalism or reporting. This kind of reporting uncovers sensitive societal issues that contain hidden facts captured via undercover audio-visual means to expose the information to the public intentionally or unintentionally.

Therefore, I loosely term anyone who captures such undercover works does the job of an Investigative Journalist and is one as such.

The name that comes to mind when we talk of groundbreaking investigative journalism in Ghana is Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who churned out the likes of Number 12, the Gold Mafia, to mention a few.

President Akufo-Addo promised Ghanaians that he was going to use the ‘Anas Principle’ to fight corruption. Ironically, the works of the Ace Journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas have been loudly silenced under this Akufo-Addo-led regime.

The importance of Investigative Journalism in our societies cannot be overemphasized. Some of the benefits of this kind of Journalism include

Exposing wrongdoing and hypocrisy

Holding individuals and institutions accountable to the masses, and

Shining light on corruption, exploitation, and illegal practices that are harmful to individuals or society.

Other roles of Investigative Journalism are

Unmasking potential abuses of power,

Serving as checks and balances against power-hungry corporations and governments, and

Acting as a watchdog in the public interest.

Naa Bugri Naabu, the former NPP Chairman of the Northern region and doubled as a Chief claimed he intentionally recorded the two senior police officers’ conversations with him in his office but did not cause the leakage of the tape to the public.

The decision and effort made by Naa Bugri Naabu to use his agents to secretly record Superintendent Asare and COP Mensah in a conversation to remove the current IGP, Dr. George Dampare should be commended in my opinion.

This clandestine ploy to trigger the removal of the current hardworking IGP by a disgruntled few Officers to help the failing NPP Party to ‘break the eight’ in the upcoming General elections has huge national security implications for Ghana and needs to be exposed. The leakage of this crucial tape is a blessing in disguise.

The circulated IGP leaked tape has not only attracted the attention of the public but also that of Speaker Bagbin to constitute an Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee to probe the veracity or otherwise of the leaked tape and make necessary recommendations for consideration in the plenary.

Chief Naabu’s investigative piece has produced incontrovertible evidence in the IGP leaked tape to expose wrongdoing, hypocrisy, and evil plans against the IGP who is committed to reforming the Police Service to be more effective and responsive to the citizenry.

In as much as the exposed senior police officers are badly embarrassed by the leakage of the tape, this turned out to be healthy for the nation in my opinion as well as being in the interest of the public.

All lies and accusations leveled against the IGP, Dr. George Dampare in the leaked tape are exposed now to be pure LIES. The accused Dr. Dampare has indeed nailed it in his parliamentary encounter on Tuesday.

Indeed, Naa Bugri Naabu has turned into an Investigative Journalist to produce the primary material with indisputable evidence in the IGP leaked tape used by the Ad Hoc Committee probe. This should be a lesson to many, as naked lies and all kinds of machinations can be unearthed one day.