Washington, DC — Through his undercover investigations, Anas Aremeyaw Anas has exposed human trafficking rings, corruption in Ghana's customs offices and child prostitution. U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Anas and his work in a speech to Ghana's parliament last year. Most recently, Anas was in Washington, DC, to receive his 2010 Global Health Council Excellence in Journalism Award for his undercover work in exposing the mistreatment of mental health patients in Ghanaian hospitals. Saratu Abiola and Bunmi Oloruntoba caught up with the undercover reporter to talk about his passion, the importance of journalism and his hopes for Africa and his native country, Ghana.
What drives you?
For me it's about people's stories, about stories that affect my grandmum in the house, stories that affect every single person. With regard to this particular story, the 'Mad House' story, I would call it an African story because I did part of it in South Africa and part of it in Burkina Faso.
I wanted to look at the various part of the healing process that people who are said to be mentally [ill] go through in the African context. What came into mind immediately was traditional African religion, how people go through it to get healing - that is why I was in South Africa. I went there to meet a woman they called Sangoma woman, who they claimed had a lot of healing powers. She tried, she said she wanted to heal me. I wasn't sick. She said some people had put something in my head, a whole lot of stories. Of course, I wasn't sick so I knew what she was saying couldn't have been true.
Then in Ghana, I went to a pastor, a Christian, who also claimed that I had a spiritual problem. In Burkina Faso, I also went to a Muslim cleric who claimed that he had healing powers. But the same thing he said. So I put all this on camera.
Was this a hidden camera?
Yes it was.
Then comes orthodox medicine. That's what took me undercover to the Ghana Psychiatric Hospital. What I uncovered were serious human rights abuses - stealing food belonging to patients, taking cocaine, heroin and cannabis by patients, which is being sold to them by staff - so many other human rights abuse stories.
What's the common thread in what needs to be done?
I think that various African countries just fail to accept what is the reality. And this is the driving force behind my kind of journalism, undercover journalism. Because if I tell you, 'This man here is a corrupt official,' I'm not just giving you the audio, I'm giving you the video of the man picking the money from the coffers. We have lived in self-denial always when leaders behave irresponsibly and you tell them. Even when you show them the hardcore evidence, which I always give in my kind of journalism, they still have a way of saying that they didn't do it.
But for me the power is about civil society. The story I did and the impact was very simple: It's not as if we didn't know things were going wrong. You also know that some of these traditional healers lie. I also knew. We knew some of the things that were going on in this hospital. But governments will not listen. In 50 years of Ghana's independence, no president has ever visited our psychiatric hospital until I broke the story. So it tells you the impact that it had. It tells you what the media can do. If our people always live in self-denial, then we must always live in a position where we show them in black and white what the evidence is so that they will take action.
What are your hopes for your country? From all the work you've done, what steps need to be taken in terms of health and in general?
The first responsibility lies [with the] media. The name or applause should not induce in us a sense of complacency. I believe that there's a lot to be done as media people. The [government] ought to know that we are holding a whip. So many people, especially in Africa, depend on us. Just as we write positively, what we write can also be negative. So in the line of the media, I believe that we are a double necessity. I see what is happening in my country as an extreme disease and we in the media must be the extreme remedy. We ought to ensure that we make public officials accountable.
So you believe that the media needs to be more extreme in order to expose officials?
Yes, I believe that the media must not be cowed into docility. We must keep the teeth and the fangs we have sharp and ensure that public officers who deceive and pilfer the coffers must be brought to book in an accountable manner. Also we must not do that in deceit; we must do that using nothing but he truth.
What role does new media and the Internet play? You do a specific kind of journalism, and why health? Why not politics or other things?
I am an undercover journalist; I don't care what the story is coming from. I go for it. When President Obama mentioned me, he didn't mention health or anything. I fight the problem - it could be in health or anything. I will be there once I am called.
Does it pay?
Certainly. Journalism remains what it is. Anything that adds up to ensure that the journalist is enriched mentally is definitely a good tool. Talk about the new media – today we have Twitter, Facebook and all that. There are certainly places that would not be easy to go [to], but you rely on your friends who live there. Whether your friend is a journalist or not, at least you get snippets before you get on the ground.
What are you working on now? The vaguest possible answer you can give.
I was watching "Mad House" with a friend of mine today in Washington. He was like, 'Wow, how fantastic! It was a great feat!' I think that the pictures are very moving, serious abuse of human rights. And I do know that some international media is flying into the country because of what I'm doing. Mid-July, just stay tuned, you'll see what's coming.
Switching subjects slightly: Ghana has one of the best track records in Africa in terms of democratic elections. The country must me doing something right – what do you think that is?
As soon as the journalist starts to think of everything being done right, that's the beginning of the country crumbling. We're keeping our eyes wide awake. Yes, Ghana may have some successes but we could have done better. I think that in 50 years of our independence we could've done better than we have done. We started with countries like Malaysia and they're doing quite well. There is more room for improvement. We can sift through the leaders we have and we can have better leaders - that's why it's a double necessity that we play our role as media people.
Can you tell us something about how you go undercover? What's the process?
The last newspaper article I read said that I can go from being tall to short! I do know that I've been undercover as various characters. I've been undercover as a public preacher in a prison, a bartender, a schoolboy in a junior school to seek admission. I've been as a laborer in a bottling factory. I've gone undercover in so many characters, I'm so used to it.
What was the background that prepared you to do this?
I did political science and I have a degree in law. The law grounds you. You know what evidence to look for when you go undercover. But like I said, it's my food, that's what I do. And at least I can tell you this, my next story I'm a reverend minister, the one breaking in July.
What does your family think about all this? Are they endangered in any way?
It's about backup. I don't work alone; I work with a team. I ensure that there's proper security, proper backup. The last story I did, I took a lot of people out of office. And immediately we had security concerns. Of course, family people will have their own fear. You have to accept this hook, line and sinker or you might have to leave. Somebody's got to do the job.
And when the story is over what is the reception?
I've grown bigger than my newspapers. Before my story breaks, I would have had one or two calls from BBC or CNN wanting to know what is happening. Like I said earlier, I don't look at just Ghana, I look at the African context and what is happening there, so my stories are more holistic. I don't say that something is happening when it's not happening. If I don't have a video, no matter how it happened, it hasn't happened.
So video is believing.
Exactly! If I told CNN that, yes, I've seen this or seen that, they know exactly what I'm talking about. They know exactly what they're coming for. And they're not coming for video that is not proper. Because I've been on the hidden camera for so many years, I know my angles so well that it always comes out at least. But don't forget, it's a very expensive venture.
Speaking of expense, how do you fund your journalism?
There are some people within our community that will say, 'I don't want to know what you're doing but can you take this money and use it for this?' There are people who are just touched by the stories we do because it affects them, because their relatives have died. That's why I'm saying that if you chose the right story to film then you'll get that public empathy. People will see that you mean business and you really want to change society.
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The NGO and aid money that comes to Africa – what is the possible connection between that and all the corruption you see?
That's the second time I've gotten this question. Sorious Samura of Insight Television is now doing a very good job on that, donor aid in Africa. The film is "Addicted to Aid."
And will you be doing work in Nigeria to expose corrupt practices there?
Yes, I'm doing some work about it, but I don't want to talk about it too much. I am working with a journalist there in a very big newspaper.
What about Western media coverage of Africa? How would you describe it and why?
Yes, we've had some unfair treatment here and there but sometimes we call for it. And I believe that if somebody went and said, 'I'm reporting from this garbage dump,' it's because that garbage dump exists. I mean, that person is not standing in a vacuum. If he says, 'I'm reporting from this warfront,' it's because that warfront exists. What stops me and you from going to their garbage dump and reporting? But where again are you going to play it? Theirs would play on CNN and BBC, but where would ours play?
But with the Internet you can play it anywhere.
But it wouldn't be as big as CNN. The African businessman must learn to invest in our media, so we all have equal platforms. [As an example] today we have Al-Jazeera, quite a strong force.
So you believe in the Al-Jazeera model?
I believe in all models! Freedom of information. Any type of media that you can use to enhance your image. Perhaps in Africa we need to look at ourselves very well. Maybe what is happening to us in the Western world is to tell ourselves to get ready to tell our own stories in the most graphic manner. Invest in us, be proud of us. We know we make mistakes. We know we're not very good, but hey, we're their press, are they going to throw us away? How many times are they going to get CNN to come and tell their story?
So basically it's not a matter for us blaming the Western media. There are garbage dumps, but the whole continent is not a garbage dump.
Are you planning to work in the US?
My work has taken me to so many places. I have American colleagues, a lot of people in the Western media who we collaborate [with] to do stories ... that's good for all of us.
