Ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas says he was motivated by the people who may be suffering at the hands of greedy figures in authority want to use Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to make money.

His latest work, Corona Quacks, seeks to expose the quack doctors at the centre of a herbal medicine business operation selling fake coronavirus drugs that claim to cure a patient with the virus.

Viewers who watched the first part of the documentary on its debut on June 29, 2020 expressed disappointment in the documentary, saying that Anas’ latest did not pack a punch as usual because no public figure was exposed like his other documentaries have done.

However, speaking on the Super Morning Show, Tuesday, Anas explained that this production is a two-part film where one focuses on the fake cures while the other focuses on officers of the state stealing from the good causes put in place to help in the fight against COVID-19.

"This film is actually in two parts. One focuses on fake cures and how people made a lot of money from that and the second one will look at thievery whilst there were these announcements by the President of nice incentives, good food and all that being packaged for us. As well as good PPEs being sent, there were people who were very busy as usual stealing.”

He stressed that while the first part did not expose any public officers, people should understand that combating COVID-19 is the focus of the world including Ghana. 

"People want to see ministers fall and yes that’s a fine feeling you have but we are going to stick to the issues."

"The number one problem we face is COVID-19, that’s what it is and if social workers are dying in the field because they don’t have PPEs, because someone is stealing them, if government has put out social intervention projects and people are stealing the raw food that is meant for them, what is more important (to focus on) than that?" he said.

"I've never practiced my journalism focusing on ministers. That's not who I have been. I'm a believer of childrens' rights, human rights and I speak to society," he added.

Anas who collaborated with the BBC on the documentary said that his work has always been about the people; the affected victims for example, and he is not necessarily motivated by an individual’s or group’s interest when he tells his stories. 

"If you look at my history, we talk about stories from the orphanage, we talk about stories on children, and we talk about human trafficking. We look out for people centred stories and that has been my hallmark," he said.

Evidently, according to him, his latest work Corona Quacks is no exception because the idea to produce the documentary came about when he heard of government’s intervention and incentives programmes which aim to help the economy one way or another and this as usual presents an opportunity for scammers, thieves and the like to gain something for themselves from the fight.

The second part of the documentary will be aired in a fortnight.