Outrage in Ghana as masked journalist uncovers massive corruption in football

Ghanaians are outraged by the corruption exposed by controversial undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas who exposed 77 Ghanaian referees and 14 officials of the football association including its president Kwesi Nyantakyi for engaging in corrupt acts.

The documentary, titled #Number12, was screened on Wednesday in Accra and watched by thousands of Ghanaians for free. Dozens of referees were caught on camera taking bribes to fix local league matches.

Top officials of the various football associations were also caught in the act and took monies as low as $200 to influence matches and allow unqualified players to get a call-up to the national team Black Stars.

One of the officials caught on camera was the Greater Accra Regional Football Association Chairman, Eddie Doku, who received a bribe to influence the selection of a footballer Patrick Razak into the reserve squad of the national team, Black Stars.

The biggest target was the second biggest official in African football and the president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Nyantakyi was approached by Anas’s team for a sponsorship deal in the Ghana football league. He promised to offer the deal and make the fictitious company rich in Ghana by creating a company to serve as an agency for the deal that will take a percentage of the funds to share amongst them.

He further offered to secure government contracts to build roads if they can give Ghana’s president Nana Akufo Addo and government officials a total of $12 million. Nyantakyi also charged $1 million for himself and an accomplice and a further $2 million for “processing” of the deal.

He happily received the $65,000 for shopping after the meeting with the so-called Emirati investor in a hotel room in Dubai.

Nyantakyi, who is under investigation following orders by President Akufo-Addo, is reported to have said that his conversation with Anas’s agents had been edited and he challenged Anas to play the unedited full conversation if he was not up to any mischief.

The officials caught in the act are still holding on to their positions and the Ghanaian public is outraged. Here are some social media reactions: