Celebrating Anas and his Tiger Eye

The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood summed it up thus: “justice has been wounded.” The bribery scandal in the judiciary, exposed by ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, detonated like a bomb in the country's justice system.

The judiciary is still picking up the pieces after 21 lower court judges and District Court Magistrates were shown the exit. There have been a number of expulsions too from the senior bench, with three high court judges thrown out.

At the week-end, the Ghanaian media celebrated the exploit of one of their own, when the man at the heart of the judicial storm was singled out among the thousands of Ghanaian newsmen and honoured as the Journalist of the Year 2015.

The award is a fitting recognition for the investigative skill of a journalist who has been celebrated around the world for naming and shaming wrong doers.

Anas has investigated and exposed quack doctors in Nigeria who conducted illegal abortion on desperate teenagers without the relevant skill and causing un-repairable damages to the young girls.

In Thailand, Mr. Aremeyaw went behind the huge wall of the local prison and brought the harsh regime behind bars in the Far East.

In Ghana, Anas and his Tiger Eye Company are legendary for exposing many wrong doings going on at the blind side of Ghanaians.

Anas has been recognized by officialdom around the world. When United States President, Barack Obama, visited Ghana, the world's most powerful Head of State singled out Anas for praise for his exposé.

It has taken the Ghana Journalists Association quite a while to celebrate the exploits of one of their own.  Last Saturday, the GJA righted the wrongs of the past by naming the proprietor of Tiger Eye as its Journalist of the Year 2015.

For his award, Anas drove home a brand new car to celebrate his new status as the leading media personality in this country. Like many things good in society, not everybody was happy with the new award conferred on this nation's leading investigative journalist.

On Monday, Mr. Justice Paul Uuter Deiry, a high court judge facing disciplinary inquiry  by the Judicial Service over the Anas exposé, through his lead counsel Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, issued a statement threatening to drag the awards committee of the GJA to court for contempt.

According to the lead counsel, the honour done the investigative journalist by the GJA, the professional body which caters for the welfare of Ghanaian journalists, is contemptuous of a case his client had brought before the Supreme Court in Accra, challenging the capacity of Anas' investigative agency and which is fixed for October 27 for determination.

The law, they say, is an ass. Mr. Justice Deiry has a right to have his day in court. But how that should prevent the GJA from celebrating the exploits of their own, begs the question; especially when the Judicial Service itself has taken several disciplinary measures against some judges following Anas' expose.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Anas' expose into judicial corruption has already been adopted by the Judicial Service. As stated earlier, the democratic dispensation now in vogue in this country, gives Mr. Justice Deiry every right to go to court if he feels he has been wronged in the Anas' expose.

We would like to believe that the right institution to face the wrath of the suspended high court judge is the Judicial Service, which is responsible for his plight. It is the Judicial Service that is carrying out its internal discipline, not the GJA or its awards committee.

The Chronicle is urging the Ghana Journalists Association and media practitioners in the country generally, not to worry our heads about the threat to drag the awards committee or the GJA itself to court on the assumption that the association and its members have decided to celebrate one of their own for his outstanding contribution to the expansion of media frontiers in Ghans.

The Chronicle takes this advantage to congratulate Mr. Anas Aremeyaw Anas on his recognition as the 'Journalist of the Year' and to urge young newsmen and women to learn from the example of the proprietor of Tiger Eye.

Anas and his Tiger eye have been recognized by a number of institutions both at home and abroad for their outstanding work. We hold the view though that this recognition by his peers is what would please the ace investigative journalist the most.

That is why Anas and his crew members should let their hair down a bit and not to worry about any suit flowing out of the outstanding work on the judiciary.

Mr. Deiry can do his worse. The award to Anas is recognition for his wonderful art of investigative work. Forward with Anas and his Tiger Eye Company!