Akufo-Addo promised to use ‘Anas principle’ without ‘knowing’ Anas – Ken Agyapong

Assin Central Member of Parliament(MP), Kennedy Agyapong has excused President Akufo-Addo’s promise to use the Anas principle in fighting corruption saying it was uttered out of ignorance.

According to the Assin Central MP, the then-candidate Akufo-Addo did not fully know Anas Aremeyaw Anas hence the promise to use the “Anas Principle”.

An Adom TV Badwam video of the Assin Central Member of Parliament going viral shows the MP angrily blasting the Ace Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for being a criminal blackmailer.

MyNewsGh.com checks show the video going viral on YouTube was the basis of Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ defamation suit against the NPP flagbearer hopeful.

Assin Central Member of Parliament(MP) Kennedy Agyapong has excused President Akufo-Addo’s promise to use the Anas principle in fighting corruption saying it was uttered out of ignorance.

According to the Assin Central MP, the then-candidate Akufo-Addo did not fully know Anas Aremeyaw Anas hence the promise to use the “Anas Principle”.

An Adom TV Badwam video of the Assin Central Member of Parliament going viral shows the MP angrily blasting the Ace Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for being a criminal blackmailer.

MyNewsGh.com checks show the video going viral on YouTube was the basis of Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ defamation suit against the NPP flagbearer hopeful.

“Akufo-Addo said he will use the Anas Principle? I think President Akufo-Addo said it because he didn’t know Anas well,” Kennedy Agyapong replied to Allotey Jacobs who was his co-panelist.

“I will carry the evidence for the Chief of Staff and for the President to watch and see the kind of blackmailers we are dealing with,” he added.

In court, the world-celebrated investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas suffered a hefty blow when an Accra High Court ruled against him in the defamation case he brought against Kennedy Agyapong for these remarks.

Anas demanded GH¢25 million in damages but the court in its ruling on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, said the suit lacks merit.

The judge, Justice Eric Baah, also upheld arguments by Mr. Agyapong that Anas is an extortionist and a blackmailer.

“That is not investigative journalism. It is investigative terrorism. It is [an] exercise of indirect political power under the cloak of journalism,” the Justice of the Court of Appeal who was sitting in with additional responsibility as a High Court judge said in his judgment.

Justice Baah ruled that: “The statement of the defendant was substantially factual and therefore justified. It could not have succeeded in actually defaming the plaintiff. Some of the long list of words made by the defendant and tendered as exhibit C were capable of defamatory meanings, but none was proven to have actually defamed the plaintiff.”

“I state in conclusion, that whereas all the statements founded on exhibits KOA1, KOA2, KOA3, and KOA4 were truthful and factual, thereby sustaining [the] defendant’s defense of justification and fair comment, the statements in plaintiff’s exhibit C; though capable of defamatory meanings, were not proven to have actually defamed the plaintiff. I found the claims of [the] plaintiff meritless. It is hereby dismissed.”

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