Investigative journalism will be Ghana's stock-in-trade – Kojo Mensah

Veteran broadcaster and former UN official Kojo Mensah has said despite its bastardisation, investigative journalism has come to stay in Ghana and will be the stock-in-trade of journalists for a long time to come.

Speaking to Korku Lumor on the Class Morning Show about the relevance of investigative journalism on Wednesday, 3 May 2023, to mark World Press Freedom Day, Mr Mensah said: “Investigative journalism is critical to hold the government to account,” which, he noted, “is a primary function of the media.”

He said “to defend the interest of the public is critical,” pointing out: “In Africa, information – any kind of information, even useless information – is guarded religiously at the cost of people’s lives and, so, there’s always going to have to be a need for investigative journalism and we’ve seen too many examples where the investigative journalist has done great work on behalf of the nation.”

Zeroing in on the works of Ghana’s own Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose modus operandi was recently described by a judge as “investigative terrorism” driven by “blackmail and corruption,” Mr Mensah remarked: “This is after the fact,” asking: “Was there any truth in what he was investigating? Full stop.”

In his view, “Whether he [Anas] influenced, whether he didn’t put somebody’s story there or not, was there a public interest in the overall intent of what was being done?”

Mr Mensah said he felt the judge sounded “personal” with the judgment.

“…You don’t turn it into your personal platform to read the riot act because you are personally affronted by it; there was absolutely no independence in what he did,” he noted.

According to him, “had it been a journalist who had spoken on another platform the way that judge had spoken on his platform, the whole world would have come down on the journalist’s head.”

He said even though he does not know the judge, he felt Anas’ previous works in which he caught some judges on tape allegedly taking bribes, may have had something to do with the judgment.

“That was my opinion but I was a little bit saddened by that,” he noted, adding: “So, investigative journalism, generally, is going to be the stock in trade of this country for a long time to come and without it, a lot of material, a lot of information, a lot of the protection that we need as a country, will not happen.”