I haven’t seen the most recent Anas video, Galamsey Economy.
I’m following the stories surrounding the video, and I admit that the initial announcement of the video’s approach threw many of us off track.
Like many others, I assumed this would be a documentary about illegal mining and the devastation it causes to our lands and water bodies.
Yes, I was holding my breath to find out who was behind the galamsey phenomenon, the names that people tease but never reveal.
I was looking for the definitive exposé that would put an end to the speculation and force the authorities to act decisively on the issue.
It turned out that I was mistaken, and the person targeted by the Anas treatment this time was Charles Adu Boahen, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance.
It’s unclear whether our brave underground investigator was riffing on Mr Adu Boahen’s childhood nickname, GALAMSEY.
I read the report of an unnamed person who attended the first show, and I also read Anas’s writeup in the Crusading Guide about the documentary.
Account
Please allow me to reproduce here the “WhatsApp” account of someone who went to see the first show.
• The documentary lasted approximately 45 to 50 minutes (other people are putting it at 30 minutes).
• Approximately 75% of the time was unrelated to the subject. It captured Akufo-transition Addo’s from candidate to President, as well as his promises. They also recapped the Nyantekyi and Charles Bissue story (Kwesi Nyantekyi, we would all remember was the GFA President who was undone by an Anas documentary along similar lines like the current one of fake Sheikhs and dollars in hotel rooms and brought Ghana football into turmoil for years, the ensuing case is in court).
• The event on Adu Boahen was solely focused on him, with no other people shown in the video (the writeup in the Crusading Guide trailing the video, notwithstanding.)
• He was given money for shopping and accepted it.
• Because people were eager to see the documentary, Ghanaians flocked to the auditorium, forming long lines outside.
• In the end, people were irritated with the organizers because the documentary had been overhyped.
Queasy things
Several unsettling things emerge from the accounts of this video; I’m not sure if it qualifies as a documentary, but that’s another story.
Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his team, I believe, owe us an explanation.
If, as it turns out, this incident with Charles Adu Boahen was filmed in 2018, why have they kept it hidden all this time, and why have they chosen November 2022, nearly five years later, to release it?
If they thought what happened in that hotel room in the United Arab Emirates was so heinous, why did they keep it for nearly five years?
They stood by as Charles Adu Boahen served a full term as Deputy Minister of Finance in the first Akufo-Addo administration.
They watched as Charles Adu Boahen was nominated as a Minister of State by re-elected President Akufo-Addo, vetted by Parliament, and sworn in.
They watched as Charles Adu Boahen carried out his responsibilities as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance.
In the four years since, one has to wonder what they were doing with their film and what, if any, relationship they had with the Minister of State.
Good day, Mr. Adu Boahen. I’m calling to check in on you and make sure you remember your encounter with the Sheikhs in the hotel room.
Good day, Mr. Adu Boahen. good evening, we saw a picture of you today with a high-powered delegation from some foreign country discussing high finance and it reminded us of your meeting with the Sheikhs in the hotel room in the Emirates.
Good day, Mr. Adu Boahen. good afternoon, we hope you’re having a good day, you’re on the radio talking about the government’s plans for the next five years, and we thought you might remember your meeting with the Sheikhs in the hotel room.
Good day, Mr. Adu Boahen. We’ve been cleaning out the closets in our offices for a long time, and we came across some old canned films, and we were wondering if you remembered your encounter with the Sheikhs in the hotel room so long ago.
Explanations
We are entitled to explanations so that our minds do not wander.
Nobody ever comes out smelling like a rose when it comes to dollars in black plastic bags, and when a scene was captured on camera of the then-deputy minister stuffing money into a plastic bag, it was safe to assume his fate was sealed.
Despite the fact that he stated during his unnecessary premature dividend counting that he believes in working for his money, that stuffed plastic bag paints a picture of greed.
The amount of money given to him as shopping money is not disclosed in the video, and he must have cursed himself a thousand times since that day he didn’t turn down the offer.
Surely, he didn’t need that money, and he could have skipped whatever shopping he did that day, but I’m sure we can all think of some things we would do differently, and we’re just lucky our moments weren’t captured by hidden cameras.
Some have argued that refusing “shopping money” from millionaire Sheikhs in the Emirates would have been culturally unacceptable. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so concerned about offending the cultural sensibilities of unknown wealthy people.
Also read: Anas Aremeyaw condemns threats on journalists
Concerning the parts of the video in which the Vice-President is the subject, I will stick to what the then-Deputy Finance Minister said: the Vice-President is not really like that. I’m also aware that we were taught to avoid what lawyers call “leading questions” when conducting interviews.
According to Tiger Eye, this was a documentary aimed at exposing those who make Ghana unappealing to investors and cut deals at the expense of the state.
If they were able to “penetrate the mode of operation” of these people and then remained silent for nearly five years, they were almost certainly guilty of collusion. We require responses.
Copyright: MyjoyOnline.com
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