Mr. Raymond Archer, Editor in Chief The Enquirer Newspaper PMB 332, Accra-North Accra.
Dear Raymond,
The last time we met or indeed had any sort of contact was at an airport lounge in Europe several years ago. You were on your way to collect an international award for excelling in investigative journalism.
You acknowledged and appreciated what my mentoring and encouragement had contributed to the recognition being given to you. Now, several years later, it is sad to watch the awesome decline of the talents that took you to the great heights of your profession. Like an ageing prize fighter who has long passed their glory days and can only take solace in the nostalgic reflections of their golden days, you are living the illusion of a great investigator when indeed your best days have been over for quite some time.
Let me illustrate my thesis with two recent examples 1. On the morning of a day when I was doing a live interview with Joy Fm, the front page of your paper reported that I had left Ghana for the UK;
2. This very morning, I have heard reports that you claim I charged an amount of approx. GH˘6.00 to Ghana @ 50 for trimming my moustache.
On the first, there was no need to do anything about the obvious falsehood of your story. Its absurdity was palpable for all to see. The second just illustrated the extent of the gulf that has opened up between us.
Anyone and everyone who knows me well enough knows that trimming my moustache is one of the great taboos of my life. The unkempt and untouched moustache is my equivalent of the biblical Sampson’s crop of hair. It is the source of the TARZANIC qualities. I can’t remember the last time any attempt was made to crop it myself; let alone allow some stranger in some hair studio to do so.
I had thought of putting you before a court of competent jurisdiction as a necessary and indeed essential start to the process of detoxification from the malaise of your unfortunate addiction to lying and being very economical with the truth. I decided against it on the grounds that the best treatment for addiction is to start off with the gentler approach of compassion and care for the afflicted, hence this my missive to you.
As is said in the Holy Bible, “IT IS NOT HOW YOU STARTED THAT MATTERS, BUT HOW YOU FINISH”.
You started and built a reputation as a good investigative journalist whose success was lauded by peers from within and without the shores of this land. Alas, in recent years, you have become intoxicated by the transient and illusory trappings of proximity to political influence and power; a development that has all but derailed and taken away the very skills of accurate and informed expose on matters of public interest.
Fortunately, you still have many years ahead of you to return to the shining path of courageous and factual investigation journalism that is typified by and widely recognized in the work of Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
I am willing and ready to return to my mentoring role to help you cover yourself in glory in the twilight years of your professional career. That is the carrot I offer you. But please be warned that, if you persist and nay insist of going down the wrong side of the road, I will not hesitate to meet you head on in a massive collision that will have to be sorted out by the due legal processes of our dear country.
