Only the Corrupt will rejoice over Justice Eric Baah’s judgment against Anas

Following a judgement delivered by Justices Eric Baah of an Accra high court, dismissing a GHC25 million defamatory suit by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas against the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, Graham Kofi Baldwin, a Ghanaian journalist has dared say that, “it’s only the corrupt in the Ghanaian society who will rejoice over the said judgement”.

He described the judgement as unfortunate and an affront to the fight against corruption in Ghana.

The vociferous media practitioner said, “after reading the entire judgement, it seems to many that, the corrupt and powerful in the Ghanaian society are at war with people who are fighting the system”.

He further said that, “this is not good for a young democracy if we want to develop as a people” he said with rage.

He warned that, if members of the judiciary do not learn from criticisms of society and adjust accordingly regarding what they do, our democracy may be in tatters in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, in a press release by Tigereyepi, the release described the ruling of the court as travesty of justice and very inimical to the administration of justice and fairness.

It went ahead to state that, “if for nothing at all, Mr Agyapong made an allegation of murder against Mr Anas…..There is absolutely nothing contained in the said documentary which alludes to the commission of murder or an allegation of the commission murder by Mr Anas” part of the statement adds.

The media practitioner has therefore urged investigative journalists in Ghana to not be deterred by what he described as “an unfortunate judgement” but to continue to expose the ills in society.

“So we have seen how under cover police, FBI and other security agencies work….they can get married to you for years and will put you under investigation.

They will become part of illicit operations which means that, they will have to commit same crimes with you in order to break you and gather their evidence. These is done in the interest of states” he lectured.

He said that, it seems to many that, “it will be very difficult to build a Ghanaian society devoid of corruption since our moral fiber has been destroyed totally” he adds.

Anas took the MP to court in 2018 for allegedly defaming him.

In his application, Anas prayed to the court to award aggravated damages of GHC25 million to compensate for allegedly defamatory material published against him by Agyapong.

In a lengthy ruling delivered today, Wednesday (15 March 2023), Justice Eric Baah held that the plaintiff, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, had failed to prove that Kennedy Agyapong defamed him by airing the documentary Who Watches the Watchman?