Our partner: Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye Foundation
The whispers in the waiting audience suddenly grow louder and there he is! Clad in a long brown and black frock, his signature hat with rows of beads covering his face, he moves quickly through the seated crowd towards the stage. But over there is another man dressed in the same way, rows of beads covering his face! And a third one coming from the other corner! The crowd is suddenly confused. The three men line up on the stage and the microphone is passed between them for an awkward minute, before one of the bead-covered men say a soft “Good evening”. Anas Aremeyaw Anas is a well-known undercover journalist who while he has exposed corrupt officials in court houses, orphanages and hospitals across Ghana and the continent of Africa can only be seen publicly with a covered face.
After starting his career at the Crusading Guide newspaper, Anas, now runs his own foundation Tiger Eye with aims to expose the truth. Tiger Eye is Klarity’s Key Community Partner, a collaborating organization with a proven track record for fighting corruption in local communities.
Well-Renowned Tiger Eye Foundation
Tiger Eye Foundation and its founder Anas Aremeyaw Anas have been working closely with Klarity since its inception to support in mobilizing activists and investigating cases.
Klarity is launching its pilot version of the platform in Greater Accra, because of the opportunity of being able to collaborate with such a well-renowned organization such as Tiger Eye Foundation, but also due to Ghana’s established press freedom, the strong and active civil society, as well as the speed of adoption of smartphones and new technology.
From Ghana, Klarity hopes to spread the platform all around the world and evolve it into tackling not only petty corruption but all forms of human rights’ abuse in both private and public sector institutions.
Mobilizing Civil Society
As the founder of Tiger Eye Foundation, Anas Aremeyaw Anas also sees the opportunities of collaborating with an international platform: “We are very excited to be working with Klarity. After many years of working as an investigative journalist and with the Tiger Eye Foundation I have witnessed the difficulty of exposing corruption first hand. This platform will allow us to expose petty corruption in a safer way and help mobilize civil society to increase accountability on public institutions. We are looking forward to be a part of this platform and believe that it can have a long-term societal change.”
Klarity empowers citizens to expose corruption, provides an online community where activists anonymously crowdsource video-based evidence against corruption issues in their local neighbourhoods, and importantly share information on social media and with journalists, activist groups and government officials. This creates awareness and pressure for action to be taken.
Back in the warm night of Accra, Anas has concluded his talk on Tiger Eye’s latest filmed expose of corruption and Anas along with his two body doubles leave the stage. The audience in Accra get up from their seats and start their journey home. However, this time they do not just leave home with new understanding of corruption in a specific sector, they leave empowered, knowing that with the smartphone in their pocket, they too can expose corruption just like Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Ghana’s foremost undercover journalist.
