Number 12: When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm

Last updated

Anas Aremeyaw Anas Anas Aremeyaw Anas.jpg
Anas Aremeyaw Anas

Number 12: When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm (different to the "MAKING OF" documentary released by the BBC on YouTube under the title Betraying the Game: Anas Aremeyaw Anas investigates football in Africa which was a documentary by the BBC on how Number 12 was made, an independent and impartial work and a report about Mr Anas’ investigation) is an investigative documentary by Ghanaian award-winning journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his investigative group, Tiger Eye P. I. [1] [2]

Contents

The documentary which was premiered on 6 June 2018 sought to highlight the level of corruption in football and among football administrators in Ghana. The British Broadcasting Corporation provided technical support for the investigation and secured the right to show it to a global audience. [3]

Background

The idea for the documentary was born when Anas was prompted by the action of certain football personalities in Ghana fingered in alleged corrupt acts. [4] Anas' main focus was on the President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi. [1] Anas believed that the actions of the leaders of various national football groups had led to the Ghana national football team the Black Stars missing out on a place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The culmination effect of effective management of football activities had led to a deterioration of Ghanaian football. [2]

During the course of interviewing, Nyantakyi hinted that he had considerable power to influence many sectors of the Ghanaian economy. He went further to suggest that he could facilitate business deals and involve the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo whenever he needed to. [5] Such meetings with the president could be achieved if supposed foreign investors would pay some bribe to him. [1]

Prior to the screening of the documentary, Anas allowed President Nana Akufo-Addo to view part of the documentary that had his name and office mentioned. Subsequent to watching the documentary, the President lodged an official complaint at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service. [6] This complaint was due to the fact that Kwasi Nyantakyi had mentioned the names of the president, his vice and others as people that had to be bribed in order to secure government contracts. The CID issued an arrest warrant for the arrest of Kwesi Nyantakyi, who was at that time on an official Confederation of African Football duty in Morocco. [7]

When the arrest warrant was issued, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr., editor-in-chief of The New Crusading Guide newspaper, expressed his disapproval of how the presidency handled the issue. According to him, there had been a gentleman's agreement between the party of Anas's Tiger Eye P. I. and the BBC and the presidency on delaying any action to be taken to a day prior to the official public premier of the documentary. He, however, said he understood why it was done and attributed it to social media allegations that the then yet-to-be released documentary had evidence of corruption at the seat of government. [8]

Kwesi Nyantakyi Kwesi Nyantakyi (2014).jpg
Kwesi Nyantakyi

Due to the arrest warrant, Kwesi Nyantakyi cut short his duty to return to Ghana on 24 May 2018. [9] He was arrested at the airport and sent to the CID headquarters in Accra for interrogation. [10] His phones and laptop were seized to facilitate their investigation and was questioned for five hours. [8] He was released after his statements were taken. Though the initial aim of the documentary was on football, certain Ghanaian politicians were caught in the web. One of such politicians was Anthony Karbo, the deputy minister for Roads and Transport. He was invited to the CID headquarters as a person of interest and was asked to assist in investigations. [1]

Investigation

The investigative piece revealed widespread corruption in football in Ghana. Several match referees were caught receiving bribes in order to favour certain teams. In many instances, match officials and football administrators engaged in match-fixing deals and influenced who was called to feature for the national team or who got to play in a particular match. In all, 77 Ghanaian referees and 14 Ghana Football Association officials were caught in various acts of corruption. [11] [12] The documentary also showed three individuals who rejected the bribes that were offered. They were GFA Executive Committee members Kweku Eyiah and John Frederick Mensah and Chief Protocol Officer at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Diana Boateng. [13] [14] [15] [16]

Reactions

Prior to the screening of the investigative piece, certain people who believed they would be caught in corrupt deals used various means to deter its premiere. These included some unidentified persons picketing at Anas’ office and at other properties reported to be owned by Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central started a media campaign against the investigative methods of Anas Aremeyaw Anas. The campaign became fierce forcing veteran journalist and mentor to Anas, Kweku Baako Jnr, to publicly defend his protégé. [1]

Some people also felt that the documentary had vindicated their concerns about football in Ghana. They included former minister for youth and sports Nii Lante Vanderpuye. [17] Some members of the GFA were unhappy with Tiger Eye PI and claimed that since the documentary was about Ghana football, they should have been given the chance to watch the movie ahead of its premier or been given tickets to watch the documentary. [18] The Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, wrote a piece which he titled "Why Anas' Number 12 is not a Journalistic Piece". In this piece, he tried to explain his point by stating that due to the ways and means used to acquire the contents of the investigative exposé, it cannot be accepted as a journalistic work. Not simply because it was put together by a journalist. [19]

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) in a media release by its Disciplinary Board on 7 July 2018 has penalized eleven (11) implicated referees with suspension, and banned eleven more for periods ranging between two and ten years. In the statement released by CAF, ten of the implicated Ghanaian referees are to appear before the Disciplinary Board on 5 August 2018. [20]

Premiere

The documentary was premiered at the Accra International Conference Centre on 6 June 2018. [21] Thousands of Ghanaians trooped to the conference centre to have a chance of seeing the documentary. The tickets for the premiere were offered free of charge. In order to allow as many people as possible to see the documentary, four viewing sessions where offered on 6 and 7 June 2018. Former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama viewed the investigative piece and expressed their shock at the level of corruption that had engulfed Ghana football but believed that the documentary would usher in a new era for Ghana football. [1] [22] Additional shows were scheduled for Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi. [13]

Number 12 was shown globally by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which had collaborated with Anas in the making of the documentary. BBC premiered it on the African continent on the Africa Eye television show and globally on BBC News. [23] The version of the documentary shown by the BBC was slightly different from the one premiered to the Ghanaian public. The BBC's version focuses more on corruption in Ghana football and the conduct of African referees as opposed to the local version which was more on the conduct of Kwesi Nyantakyi. [3] [23] The documentary was also released on YouTube by BBC News Africa. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana national football team</span> Association football team

The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international football. The team is named the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the flag of Ghana. It is governed by the Ghana Football Association, the governing body for football in Ghana. Prior to 1957, it played as the Gold Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana Football Association</span> Sports governing body

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the governing body of association football in Ghana and is based in Accra the capital of Ghana. Founded in 1957, the Association was dissolved by the Ghanaian Minister of Sport, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, on 7 June 2018, after the discovery of corruption in the association through investigative videos. In October 2019, a new president, Kurt Okraku, was elected as the association reconvened upon the completion of the work of the FIFA Normalization Committee. Mark Addo was later elected vice president in November 2019. Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku has been re-elected as President of the Ghana Football Association during their 2023 Elective Congress in Tamale in the Northern region Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana Premier League</span> Top professional football division of the football league in Ghana

The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition, the league is organized by the Ghana Football Association and was ranked as the 11th best league in Africa by the IFFHS from 2001 to 2010, and the league was also ranked 65th in the IFFHS' Best Leagues of the World ranking, in the 1st Decade of the 21st Century (2001–2010). on 4 February 2014. It has been dominated by Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak. The bottom 3 teams are relegated at the end of each season and placed in each zone of the Ghanaian Division One League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in Ghana</span> Institutional corruption in the country

Political corruption in Ghana has been common since independence. Since 2017, Ghana's score on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index has improved slightly from its low point that year, a score of 40 on a scale from 0 to 100. Ghana's score rose to 43 by 2020 and has remained there until the present, 2023. When ranked by score among the 180 countries in the 2023 Index, Ghana ranked 70th, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90, the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11. For comparison with regional scores, the average score among sub-Saharan African countries was 33. The highest score in sub-Saharan Africa was 71 and the lowest score was 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anas Aremeyaw Anas</span> Ghanaian investigative journalist (born 1970)

Anas Aremeyaw Anas, better known as Anas, is a Ghanaian journalist born in the late 1970s. He utilizes his anonymity as a tool in his investigative journalism work. Anas is a politically non-aligned multimedia journalist who specializes in print media and documentaries. He focuses on issues of human rights and anti-corruption in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa. In December 2015 Foreign Policy magazine named Anas one of 2015's leading global thinkers. In 2016 Anas had a "Best Journalist" award named after him by the Press Foundation in Ghana.

Ohene Djan was a Ghanaian sports administrator and politician. He was the First Director (Minister) of Sports of Ghana at the Central Organisation of Sports (COS) and was also vice-president of the Confederation of African Football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwesi Nyantakyi</span> Ghanaian banker and lawyer

Kwesi Nyantakyi is a Ghanaian banker, lawyer and former football administrator. He was the president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) from 30 December 2005 until 7 June 2018. Nyantakyi officially resigned a day later. However, four hours to the release of his resignation letter FIFA had issued a statement announcing his ban from all football related activities for a period of 90 days pending investigations. Circumstances surrounding his resignation include a video released by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in which Nyantakyi was found taking a bribe and purporting to have the ability to "take over the whole country". In an interview with Super Sports South Africa a few days after the video of the investigation was slated to go public, Nyantakyi denied any wrongdoing regarding match fixing. On 30 October 2018 FIFA officially issued a statement that officially bans Kwesi Nantakyi from football related activities for life. In October 2020, the ban was reduced to 15 years after a reconsideration by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennedy Agyapong</span> Ghanaian politician and businessman

Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is a Ghanaian politician and businessman who represents Assin Central in parliament as a member of the New Patriotic Party. He was first elected as a member of parliament in 2000 to the seat of Assin North. He retained his seat in the year 2004 and 2008 parliamentary elections. In 2012, he was elected in the new seat of Assin Central and was re-elected in 2016. He also retained his seat in the 2020 general elections. He is currently the Chairman of the Parliament's Defense and Interior Committee. As an aspirant in 2023 for the presidential candidacy of the NPP, he lost to Mahamudu Bawumia.

Leanier Afiyea-Obo Addy is a Ghanaian association football executive and administrator. She previously served as the Chairperson of the Ghana Women's League Board and as head of the women football in the country. She also served on the Ghana Football Association Executive Committee, making her the first female to do so.

#IAmAnas is a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign that started in 2015. Users tweeted to express support for the undercover investigative works of Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

This is a list of investigative works by Ghanaian undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, sorted from most recent date to least recent.

Tiger Eye P. I. is an investigative organization based in Accra, Ghana. It is headed by multiple award-winning investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas. The organization has undertaken several high-profile investigation to expose corruption, human trafficking, smuggling, human rights abuses among other. It regularly collaborates with international organizations to bring to global attention issues that relate to a wide array of human institution. Some of such collaboration have been with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Al Jazeera, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Government of Ghana.

John Frederick Mensah is a Ghanaian football administrator and a member of the executive committee of the Ghana Football Association. He was one of three football administrators to have rejected bribes in the Number 12 exposé. The others were Kweku Eyiah and Chief Protocol Officer at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Diana Boateng.

Ahmed Hussein-Suale was a Ghanaian undercover investigative journalist and an associate of fellow Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas. He died on Wednesday, 16 January 2019 when unidentified men on motorbikes shot him three times, twice in the chest and once in his neck in his vehicle.

George Kwasi Afriyie is a Ghanaian football administrator and businessman. He is currently the owner and President of Ghanaian club Planners Athletic Club which plays in the second-tier league. He previously served as the Vice President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

Moses Armah 'Parker' is a Ghanaian businessman, football administrator and currently the owner and President of Medeama SC as well as the chairman of Mospacka Group of companies which includes Medeama FM.

The 2020–21 Ghana Premier League is the 65th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 14 November 2020. 18 teams were competing in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, with the three clubs at the bottom of the league relegated to the Division One League. Hearts of Oak became champion for the first time since twelve years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kojo Bonsu</span> Ghanaian businessman and politician

Kojo Bonsu is a Ghanaian businessman, sports administrator, and politician, who served as the Metropolitan Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly from 2013 to 2016. He is a member of the National Democratic Congress.

BBC Africa Eye is an investigative branch of the BBC World Service. It has a network of local and investigative journalists and researchers working across Africa and produces an award-winning bi-weekly TV and online investigations series broadcast in English, Hausa, Swahili and French. The series focuses on topics that are of interest and concern to young and underserved audience and aims to strengthen and encourage investigative journalism across Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "All set for premier of Anas' #Number12 investigative film". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 ""When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm" set to premier on June, 6, 2018" . Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 "BBC version of Anas' 'Number 12' airs". www.ghanaweb.com. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Anas' Number 12 exposé: A blessing or curse? - 3newsgh". 3newsgh. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "Kwesi Nyantakyi's wife calls on God ahead of Anas' No. 12 Premiere". www.ghanaweb.com. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Wanted Nyantakyi abruptly ends morocco trip to turn himself in". citifmonline.com. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Kwesi Nyantakyi remains our President - GFA". Citi Newsroom. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  8. 1 2 "CID Grabs Nyantakyi At The Airport; Grilled For 5 Hours - Daily Guide Africa". dailyguideafrica.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ↑ "Nyantakyi turns himself in to CID over fraud allegations". Citi Newsroom. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "CID Police pick up GFA President for interrogation". BBC News Pidgin. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "LIVE UPDATES: Anas' expose on Ghana Football (Number12)". www.ghanaweb.com. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  12. ↑ "Rainbow Radio - #Number 12: COP Kofi Boakye to probe 'bribe taking referees'-GFA Statement". rainbowradioonline.com. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  13. 1 2 "#Number12: Meet the three 'honest' GFA officials who rejected Anas' bribe". Citi Newsroom. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  14. ↑ Apinga, David. "#12: Anas lauds "patriot" who rejected bribe". www.classfmonline.com. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  15. ↑ Yeboah, Thomas Freeman. "These two top GFA members rejected bribes in Anas exposé" . Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "'MOBA Ayiah rejected Anas bribe because of Dwen Hwe Kan' - Nii Lante". www.ghanaweb.com. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "Anas' Number 12: Ex-Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuje prays to be vindicated". www.ghanaweb.com. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Number 12: GFA responds to Anas exposé with strongly worded statement". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "MFWA's Sulemana writes: Why Anas' Number 12 is not a journalistic piece". Citi Newsroom. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  20. ↑ "CAF suspends 11 referees, bans 11 others over Anas video". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  21. ↑ "Number12: Ghanaians ecstatic as Anas documentary premiers today". Myjoyonline.com.
  22. ↑ "Anas exposé: Kufuor close to tears after watching excerpts of Number 12". www.ghanaweb.com. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  23. 1 2 "BBC Releases Teaser Of Anas Number 12 Exposé". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "Betraying the Game: Anas Aremeyaw Anas investigates football in Africa - BBC Africa Eye documentary". YouTube .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.