Anas vs Ken Agyapong: Breakdown of how journalist dragged former MP through courts in two countries

In the pursuit of justice for Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who believed the former lawmaker defamed him, an Essex County jury has awarded the investigative journalist $18 million in his defamation suit against Kennedy Agyapong.

Although most Ghanaians may have been aware that the lawmaker launched a campaign against Anas’s personality and character, particularly voicing his grievances regarding the journalist’s methods and approaches to his, many more are now left wondering how this development came to be.

This GhanaWeb article is a comprehensive breakdown of the genesis of the legal tussle and long-standing feud between the two parties.

The Genesis

The feud began in 2018 when Anas debuted his BBC documentary exposing corrupt practices in African and Ghanaian football, titled ‘Betraying the Game,’ infamously known as the Number 12 Documentary.

The documentary unearthed several exposes, implicating high-ranking football officials.

Aftermath of Number 12

After the explosive expose by Anas, Kennedy Agyapong embarked on a series of campaigns on live broadcasts to supposedly defame the journalist, with many of such instances being in a May 2018 live television program where the politician allegedly verbally attacked the journalist and incited violence against him.

Another instance as captured in the court documents filed at the Essex County, was a June 2018 live radio broadcast with the lawmaker allegedly further inciting violence against Anas.

Between May and November 2018, the court document added that a series of defamatory statements were made against the person of the journalist on the show The Daddy Fred Show, hosted by US-based Ghanaian Frederick Asamoah, who was the second defendant in the suit.

Agyapong allegedly accused the journalist of murdering several Chinese nationals.

Subsequently, the supposed defamatory statements continued, when on September 7, 2021, Kennedy Agyapong accused and labeled the journalist as a “criminal” and a “thief” during an interview on an online program, further alleging that Anas was involved in the gruesome murder of investigative journalist, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a former colleague of his.

High Court

In the wake of the said claims, a suit was filed at the Accra High Court by Anas, demanding for damages to the tune of GH¢25 million arising from defamatory materials published by the MP.

However, in 2023, the High Court presided over by Justice Eric Baah, a Court of Appeal judge, threw out the suit for lacking merit and rather imposed a cost of GH¢50,000 on the journalist.

The court maintained that even though the words spoken by the lawmaker against Anas were factual and capable of defamation, he could not prove same.

The judge also labelled Anas as a ‘blackmailer,’ arguing that the modus operandi used by the journalist was unconventional as he supposedly uses blackmail to extort money from his opponents.

Supreme Court

Anas, still on his justice pursuit, took the case to the apex court, the Supreme Court, where he filed a certiorari application seeking to overturn the ruling of the High Court.

However, the court, in a 3:2 majority decision with Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, Justice Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, and Samuel Asiedu forming the majority, dismissed the application.

US court

The case filed in May 2022 by Anas at the Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey has witnessed a jury awarding Anas $18 million in damages in his defamation suit against Kennedy Agyapong.

Responding to the ruling in a statement on March 18, 2025, Anas described his victory as a “resounding affirmation that falsehood and character assassination have no place in society.”

He added that “I stand before you today with a profound sense of vindication and determination. Yesterday, in the Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey, an eight-member jury delivered a unanimous verdict finding Kennedy Agyapong, a former member of the Ghanaian Parliament, liable for defamation and awarding damages of 18 million U.S. dollars. These damages arise from statements he made following the airing of the BBC documentary on corruption, ‘Betraying the Game,’ on October 28, 2018.

“This decision is not merely a legal triumph; it is a resounding affirmation that falsehood and character assassination have no place in our society. It reinforces our commitment to building a robust democracy that serves all ordinary Ghanaians.”

The journalist also spoke about what this victory meant to him.

“This victory is especially significant for me because proving defamation in the United States is an exceptionally high hurdle, requiring clear and convincing evidence of malice. That the jury ruled unanimously in my favour underscores that Mr. Agyapong acted both maliciously and recklessly in his attacks against me,” part of the statement said.

Meanwhile, the former lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong, is yet to issue a statement on the development although one of his aides made a post after the judgment on social media, denying and calling as ‘false’ the reports on the ruling by the US court.