About Manasseh Azure Awuni
Manasseh Azure Awuni is a Ghanaian investigative journalist and a 2023-2024 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, a non-profit, public-interest journalism project founded by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
Before joining the MFWA in February 2021, Manasseh had about a decade’s experience in journalism, working as a freelancer and with media houses. Between November 2012 and June 2019, he worked at Joy FM and JoyNews Television at the Multimedia Group. He founded and headed the investigative desk and produced some of the most groundbreaking and impactful investigative stories in Ghana.
Manasseh’s investigative works have resulted in the passage of a law by parliament on Ghana’s youth employment programme and the cancellations of dubious government contracts amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Three persons have been jailed as a result of his investigations while dozens, including high-profile government officials, have lost their jobs. As of September 2022, three persons were being prosecuted by the state following Manasseh’s work.
He has also collaborated with other international media outlets. In 2020, he worked with a team of journalists from CNN to uncover a Russian troll factory in Ghana. In 2021, he collaborated with the Norwegian media entity, VG, to investigate Ghana’s shady procurement of Covid-19 vaccines through a third party in Dubai. The story resulted in a parliamentary probe of the contract, which was later canceled and the money refunded to the state.
Manasseh Azure Awuni is one of Ghana’s foremost investigative journalists and a staunch anti-corruption crusader. The revered Ghanaian preacher, Rev. Dr. Mensa Otabil, has described him as a “treasure” to Ghana, a young man whose life is an “encouragement that there is hope for Ghana and for Africa.”
Manasseh was born in Bongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana in 1985 but grew up in Kete-Krachi, where his father worked as a night watchman. He is the second of eleven children of his parents. Growing up under difficult conditions, he rose above the odds of deprivation, poverty and hopelessness to become a role model for many Ghanaian youth and a voice for the oppressed and downtrodden.
President John Mahama congratulates Manasseh at the National Youth Achievers Award
After graduating from the School of Journalism, Manasseh Azure Awuni practised briefly as a freelance journalist before joining Joy 99.7 FM (The Multimedia Group) as a senior broadcast journalist in November 2012. He resigned in June 2019 and returned to the world of freelance journalism.
Manasseh is a recipient of many awards in recognition of his outstanding performance in journalism. In 2010, the Ghana Journalists Association adjudged him the Most Promising Young Journalist of the Year. He was again adjudged the overall Best Journalist of the Year 2011, just a year after leaving journalism school. He is also a recipient of the 2012 National Youth Achievers Award for Media Excellence and overall winner of Ideas Award by Legacy and Legacy in the same year. In 2013, he was adjudged the Best Anti-Corruption Reporter in Ghana.
Manasseh flanked by elder brother and twin sister as he receives Journalist of the Year Award
Below is a list of some of the awards Manasseh has won in his journalism career.
AWARDS
2023: Overall Best, Nobert Zongo Africa Investigative Journalism Prize
2023: First Position in Television Category, Nobert Zongo Africa Investigative Journalism Prize
Second Position in Television Category, Nobert Zongo Africa Investigative Journalism Prize
2022: Nominee for the Allard Prize for International Integrity
2022: Longlist for One World Media Awards (Popular Features Category)
2021: Ghana’s Integrity Personality of the Year, Awarded by GII, Ghana Chapter of Transparency International
2021: Millennium Excellence Award for Media Excellence
2021:2nd Prize for Norbert Zongo Africa Investigative Journalism Award, TV
2020: Overall Best Journalist for West Africa, West Africa Media Excellence Award
2018: Overall Best Journalist for West Africa, West Africa Media Excellence Award
2012: 2011 Ghana Journalists Association Best Journalist of the Year
2011: 2010 Ghana Journalists Association Most Promising Journalist of the Year
2020: Best Anti-Corruption Journalist for West Africa; West Africa Media Excellence Award
2018: Best Anti-Corruption Journalist for West Africa; West Africa Media Excellence Award
2017: Best Investigative Journalist for West Africa; West Africa Media Excellence Award
2012: National Youth Achievers Award for Media Excellence
2014: Ghana Journalists Association Best Anti-Corruption Reporter
2014: Ghana Journalists Association Best Radio News Reporter
2013: Ghana Journalists Association Best TV News Reporter
2012: Ghana Journalists Association Best TV News Reporter
2012: Ghana Journalists Association Best Reporter on Sanitation
2012: Ghana Journalists Association Best Features Writer
2012: Overall Winner of Ideas Award of Ghanaian Achievers Under 40
2012: Ghana Journalists Association 1st Runner Up in Sports Reporting, 2012
2011: Ghana Journalists Association Best TV News Reporter
2011: Ghana Journalists Association Best Human Rights Reporter
2007: Winner: (Tertiary Level) 2007 National Emancipation Day Essay Competition
Manasseh is also a recipient of a number of honorary awards from faith-based and civil society organisations for his role in fighting corruption and shaping society.
Rev. Dr. Otabil presents Ideas Award to Manasseh
A product of Krachi Senior High School, Manasseh Azure Awuni graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. He went ahead to read for a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies at the University of Ghana. Before joining Joy FM in November 2012, Manasseh worked as a freelance journalist, focusing on rural reporting and reports that highlighted the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Former President J.A. Kufuor praises Manasseh for his good works at a public function
In 2013, Manasseh Azure Awuni, conducted a comprehensive investigation into the operations of GYEEDA and uncovered massive corruption in the institution, which led to policy change in the running of the agency. The government set up a five-member committee to probe the allegations further. The committee’s report corroborated Manasseh’s findings and made various recommendations to government. As part of the reforms which resulted from his work, Parliament passed a law to regulate the operations of GYEEDA, which was later renamed Youth Employment Agency (YEA). His investigation also led to the cancellation of all but one of GYEEDA’s contracts with service providers. This saved the nation millions of cedis every month. Some officials were also dismissed while others were prosecuted.
In 2014, a similar investigation by Manasseh unraveled massive financial malfeasance, project failure and mismanagement plaguing the Savannah Accelerated Development Programme (SADA). There was a shake up in the board and management of SADA. The new managers of SADA embarked on a serious drive to restructure, rebrand and re-position SADA to serve the purpose for which it was created. His investigations into the World Cup Kickback Scandal and the “Gay Doctor” story among others led to further probes and prosecution of officials and persons involved.
Manasseh has served as a resource person for media training in Ghana and across the African continent. In 2014, he was resource person for the training of selected West African journalists on tracking contracts and stopping corruption, organized by the Media Foundation on West Africa. In June 2014, he was invited by the Tax Justice Network Africa for the training of journalists in Nairobi, Kenya on how to stop corruption in the tax sector.
He was a speaker at the journalists’ training at the Many Voices Once Purpose: The 6th Financial Transparency Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, from October 19 to October 22, 2015. The conference was organised by the Financial Transparency Coalition, Prakarsa and Transparency International – Indonesia. He spoke to journalists from the Asian Region on how to use investigative journalism to track the execution of government programmes ensure the development of their countries.
Cardinal Appiah Turkson congratulates Manasseh
Manasseh Azure Awuni has also attended notable international conferences such as the Highway Way Africa conference in South Africa in September 2012 and the Freedom of Information Seminar in Germany in September 2013. In 2014, he was the only representative from West Africa to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Programme organized by hosted by the United State Government. He also speaks at motivational conferences and platforms such as the Springboard Roadshow, the National Youth Rally, Rotary Clubs, Schools, and Churches among others. He seeks to inspire his generation and instill a sense of patriotism in the youth.
Manasseh wears only made-in-Ghana (African) prints unless he is outside Ghana, where temperature or strict adherence to the dress code of event organisers may compel him to wear something else. “If I buy shirt from America or Europe, I am investing in their economy. But if I buy an African print here and give it to the tailor to sew for me, I am both helping to sustain the local textile industry while creating employment in my country,” he says of his decision. He is a staunch promoter of made-in-Ghana products.
Manasseh Azure Awuni speaks his mind without fear or favour. He is not bothered about political tagging. He says he is not a neutral journalist. He is a firm believer in Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa’s saying that, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If the elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
He has taken the side of the oppressed and downtrodden while being fair to the oppressors in his line of duty.
Manasseh speaks his mind without fear or favour
The Bongo boy, as Manasseh refers to himself, is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. He enjoys gospel music and borborbor music. He reads for pleasure and writing is his hobby.
