Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Assin Central
My old-fashioned dictionary defines entrapment variously as ‘allurement, trick, deceive, catch, trap. Who can be trapped, deceived or tricked? Indeed, many people can be victims of entrapment but putting it in context, the vulnerable can be separated from the hardcore criminals.
The same old-fashioned dictionary defines blackmail as ‘demanding money or something from somebody by threatening information which could harm him or her. And the old-fashioned dictionary also defines extortion as ‘obtain something by the use of violence or threats. I have tried to refresh my mind with the words above because over the week, they have been used and mis-used to the point of abusing it by the maverick politician, Mr. Kennedy Agyepong.
I have had a number of calls from Ghanaians asking me about the motivations of Mr. Kennedy Agyepong, M.P, who has endeared himself to so many Ghanaians as an anti-corruption crusader in this beautiful country which is on the verge of collapse, economically, socially and politically through the ubiquitous tentacles of corruption. In opposition, Kennedy Agyepong had raised issues of corrupt practices inside government and outside of it with facts that are documented.
He spoke with passion in the overall interest of mother Ghana and had the support of many Ghanaians. The vituperations of Kennedy Agyepong on one of the TV networks last Tuesday smacks of someone who had been paid to redeem the image of trapped criminals and bring down the image of a hardworking young journalist whose reputation is globally acknowledged.
Kennedy Agyepong did himself no good when he tried or called for the re-instatement or release of people who have been punished by the state and its agencies because of some pungent crimes they had committed against the state but only exposed by the work of the Tigereye led by Anas Aremeyaw Anas. The immigration officers are found across our nation’s borders, CEPS officials are all over certain vantage points of the nation, the police can be found in many communities in this country. It took Anas and his boys to expose massive cocoa smuggling in this country with the active participation of the officials of the state agencies through Anas’ investigations.
In the view of Kennedy Agyepong, did Anas extort monies from the officers of state who engaged in those nation-wrecking activities? Did he blackmail them into disclosing what there were doing at the borders or they were entrapped? Anas found himself at the Osu Children’s Home in Accra, pretending to be whoever, observed the maltreatment of the inmates there by the workers and the administration, the pilfering of donations of food and other items meant to cater for these unfortunate children which were being used against the interest of the children and brought these rots hitherto unknown to Ghanaians to the fore.
Government instituted a committee to go into it and some reforms came to the home. Who did Anas entrap, blackmail or extort whatever it was from in order to gather goings-on in that HOME? Does Kennedy Agyepong remember Anas’ work at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital where he had to be administered with medications meant for genuinely mentally sick people just to get information about how bad the situation in our psychiatric facilities are and the ill-treatment the inmates are subjected to? Who did he blackmail, entrap or extort whatever from to come out with the problems confronting the facilities?
Does Kennedy Agyepong remember Anas seeking employment at a foreign biscuit manufacturing company to expose the fact that the company used expired raw materials as well as maggot-infested flour in the preparation of biscuits for the consumption of the Ghanaian public? Did he blackmail the management, extort monies from them or what? Which innocent person on earth will submit to the blackmail and extortion of a crook when a gun is not pointed at his or her head?
Kennedy Agyepong is only interested in the cases of some judges who have lost their jobs and positions because of what Anas did and exposed them in the judiciary and lately, the story about Kwesi Nyantakyi, the Mugabe of the Presidency of the Ghana Football Association (GFA). These are the areas that have attracted the attention of Kennedy Agyepong. What is his motivation for his vituperations at this time of the day? He claims a certain judge has spoken to him and said he Kennedy Agyepong is the only one who can tell their story for them. For a fee?
He also claims he met Kwesi Nyantakyi and heard his side of the story, that was the basis for him Kennedy Agyepong to sit on TV to denigrate Anas and call him a thief, corrupt, blackmailer and all the unprinted words about this young man. Having listened to Kwesi Nyantakyi, did he have the patience to view the Anas video which is just a few days away for him to make fair and balanced assessment of what he might have heard from the judge and Kwesi Nyantakyi and what he would see on the video? Did the judge or Nyantakyi motivate him to launch that tirade against Anas?
In any case, which category of people in society are susceptible to blackmail or entrapment, certainly not the honest people, particularly when guns are not pointed to their heads. It is the criminals and wrong doers who expose themselves to blackmail, extortion and entrapment, even if these were what Anas did. If I have not forcefully had illicit carnal knowledge of a girl, where will she get a video of our actions to blackmail me? If I am not an apology of a womanizer, unzipping at the sight of anything in blouse and skirt, how will any lady attempt to entrap me with her body?
What Kennedy Agyepong does not know or deliberately forgot is the fact that in the case of the judges, some of them threatened to get the Anas team arrested if they did not vamoose from their presence with their ‘evil deeds’. Why were they not blackmailed or entrapped into acquiescence? They are also Ghanaians and judges.
If a relation of Kennedy Agyepong had been a victim of the armed robber who was set free by one of the judges upon receiving agreed sums of money, he would not be talking the way he is talking. A free conscience fears no accusation, this was an oft repeated phrase by my illiterate grandfather whom I affectionately called Olu Kwesi Essien (Olu meaning oldman).
Kennedy Agyepong descends so low to even question Anas’ academic credentials as if he was given a special dispensation at the Ghana Law School. Has he gone down to find out Anas’ academic record in the schools he attended before the Ghana Law School? Ao, when a man’s mind is clogged with hatred and fury, common sense finds difficulty in permeating that mind. That mind becomes impervious to reason and decorum. He descends further low to talk about Anas’ property as if Anas is so dumb that as he risks his life in places like Thailand, Sierra Leone, Tanzania to expose criminals in our world for the benefit of society, the financial benefits that come his way must be burnt and not utilized for his comfort for today and the days before him.
This is the lowest of Kennedy Agyepong, there was everything dis-honourable about his conduct last Tuesday. He seemed to be on a paid mission to tarnish the image of Anas and protect criminals and braggarts like Kwesi Nyantakyi, who in football has taken the whole nation hostage. Kennedy Agyepong had it all wrong and it is not too late for him to retract and apologize for his shameful vituperations on public television. He could have done that at a palmwine tapper’s joint somewhere in Assin Dompim. It would have been treated with disdain.
Daavi, the weather ooo, the weather, four tots.
