Mr. Kennedy Agyepong, the lawmaker known more for his outlandish statements and juvenile outbursts than for his legislative accomplishments, is on the warpath; his target, Mr. Anas Amereyaw Anas, the internationally investigative reporter who has made life very uncomfortable for feckless and corrupt high ranking public officials with his expose videos.
I don’t know what drives Mr. Agyepong’s animosity, but it is safe to say that his frontal and ad hominem attacks on Anas stem from an intense feeling of inadequacy spiced/boosted by pettiness and jealousy. Mr. Agyepong, as has been well established, is an ineffective legislator. He has no bite.
He has been in parliament for a while now, yet he isn’t a significant contributor to debates that shape national policy. But outside the legislative body, Mr. Agyepong is an island unto himself, projecting power, influence and fear.
He is sickeningly loud, unfailingly arrogant, shamelessly provocative and outrageously uncouth. He has no qualms about taking on anyone, even members of his own party have not been spared Mr. Agyepong’s wrath and tongue lashing.
It therefore does not come as a surprise that he now has a popular and hardworking journalist in his sights and is determined to have his pound of flesh, no matter what.
To further his goal of thwarting Mr. Anas, the legislator has spent the last few days on various media platforms threatening to turn the lens on the journalist and accusing him of employing devious and underhanded tactics in his work, illegally amassing wealth and properties and ruining the lives of so called honest Ghanaian citizens.
Sure, Mr. Anas has ruffled feathers with his work exposing corruption, and in the process those who engage in it to public ridicule and punishment. And, yes, many public officials, at least those of them who are corrupt, live in mortal fear of encountering Anas. And, that to put it simply, is a good thing.
Corruption largely takes place behind closed doors, away from public view and thus hard to prove. So, if it is captured on video and the participants exposed and punished severely, the nation as a whole is better served. Why people like Agyepong have problems with this methodology is difficult to understand. Unless of course, they have something to hide.
In the long run, Mr. Anas is doing a remarkable job of protecting the public purse, to borrow President Nana Akuffo Addo’s famous words. Those who oppose him are self-centered egoistical attention seekers. They are enemies of Ghana and don’t deserve a place in the national conversation about corruption.
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