Who Monitor Those In Power?

By: Stephen A. Quaye.

For president John Evans Atta Mills, to say that he was waiting for the ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s investigation footage about the rot at Tema harbour to come out means that he was aware of what was going on there but wanted more evidence for him to act.

Yes he might be in the know because he receives reports on the country’s security everyday. He receives report on activities of his ministers, district chief executives and even party members everyday.

If not how would he disclose that he was aware of what was going on at Aflao border and else where and that “we shall descend on them soon”? That is fine whether he was aware or not now the evidence of much complained rot at the harbour is out and it is time for action.

Anyway, let me congratulate the ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for the wonderful work he and his team of investigators have done. Their achievement to me so far tells me that there are a lot for our country’s journalists to do if they claim they are the fourth estate of the realm.

Who monitors those in power and offer voice to the voiceless in our society was the only question that I first asked myself immediately I read the full scale of the report on the web.

Before the exposure, there were several complaints reported in the media by purported victims who suffered at the hands of “these enemies of the nation” where no one took it up and put things right.

Don’t we have journalists reporting for various media houses in Ghana in that particular industrial region who could help us expose the canker? Were they aware of what was happening there and never bothered to report on it or they were simply not digging for the news beyond the news?

Well whether they did attempt to expose it or not. Fire has been put under their editorial chairs in their various reporting offices in Tema telling them that more would be expected from them.

By the way if am the president I would have considered conferring a great national award on the ace journalist for the wonderful job he and his team have done to inspire other journalists to also do same all in effort to uproot corruption in the country.

I never won any journalism award when I reported for the Ghanaian Chronicle in Koforidua, Eastern Region of Ghana. Yet I was inspired by the great work my mentor and for that matter my “magic mentor” Mr.A.C.Ohene, did when he was the Eastern Regional editor of the paper and later became the acting editor.

He won the Ghana Journalists Association [GJA] best rural reporter on two occasions and his works actually like what happened in Philadelphia where the Pulitzer Prize awarded the bulletin there for exposing police officers who were into illegal lotto business, made me to follow his footsteps.

Who knew the corrupt practices that were going on in the Afram Plains District at the time? Who knew the problems the residents there were facing including lack of portable drinking water, pour road conditions and many more?

He took it upon himself to investigate and expose the rot there and that of Kwahu South District Assembly by then which opened these two areas for development.

I am surprise he is not lecturing at the institute for him to raise award winning journalist to emulate his style of journalism to help build our country Ghana.

It is time for our anchor men to rise up. It is time for our regional and rural correspondents to rise up to the task of monitoring power and offer voice to the voiceless everywhere they find themselves and say good bye to “soli stories” otherwise known as “he said, he said” stories.

After people now a days are no more interested in “the minister has said, noted, observed or the president has graced the annual so, so and so festival of the people of so, so and so.

We need to know what is happening, not what people just say. Let the investigation camera continue to roll Anas.

Congrats.

End.