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The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), in partnership with OXFAM Ghana and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, have held a two-day training workshop in Akosombo for 20 selected journalists from the Eastern and Volta regions.
The focus was on enhancing their knowledge and capacity to report on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and progressive taxation.
The training, part of the Strategic Partnership Initiative for Ghana and West Africa (SP2 Project), was aimed to address the significant losses Ghana faces annually through IFFs, caused by trade misinvoicing, tax evasion, bribery, and corruption.
These losses, combined with a weak tax system and low domestic revenue mobilisation, limit the government’s ability to fund critical infrastructure in sectors such as health, education, and energy.
Mr Paul Gozo, Programme Assistant for Media, Democracy, and Good Governance at MFWA, emphasised the importance of the training, noting that many journalists lack the skills and knowledge to identify and report effectively on IFFs.
“Beyond training, we are supporting journalists to produce impactful stories that will expose the gaps and offer solutions to tackle IFFs in Ghana,” he stated.
The broader goal is to train 80 journalists nationwide with 20 each from the northern, Eastern and Volta, and Ashanti regions, to form a dedicated network of reporters focused on economic accountability and transparency.
Mr Edward Cudjoe, Ashanti Regional Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), who also addressed participants highlighted the crucial role journalists played in educating the public, shaping discourse, and holding institutions accountable.
“Illicit financial flows are a global issue, but in Ghana and across West Africa, they are bleeding our economies of much-needed development funds,” he stressed.
Mr Cudjoe pointed out that foreign investments, while welcomed, sometimes exploited legal and regulatory loopholes to illegally repatriate profits, often through tax evasion and weak law enforcement.
“Journalists must demystify IFFs, raise awareness, and push for enforcement. Their work can trigger law enforcement action and help plug the financial leakages affecting national development,” he noted.
He added that limited discourse on IFFs was largely due to the lack of capacity among journalists and civil society.
Strengthening that capacity, he believed, could initiate a cascading effect, empowering citizens and driving collective action to address corruption and financial malpractice.
He further said the workshop also underscored the need for the media to ask informed questions about accountability, government expenditure, and the national budget.
The Executive Director of Green Tax Youth Africa (GTYA), Benaiah Nii Addo, indicated that as watchdogs of society, journalists must be equipped to interrogate issues related to domestic revenue mobilisation and illicit outflows to ensure transparency in economic governance.
He said by building a well-informed corps of journalists, MFWA and its partners hoped to foster greater public awareness, generate compelling stories on economic issues, and ultimately contribute to a more transparent and accountable governance framework in Ghana.
