By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A five-day intensive media training on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) with funding support from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has concluded in Ada, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
The week-long training aimed to equip journalists with the skills and tools needed to uncover financial crimes such as money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption—key issues that contribute to Africa’s underdevelopment.
Ghana is not the only country benefiting from such an initiative. Recognising that IFFs are a global issue, similar workshops were concurrently held in Kenya and Tanzania to strengthen journalists’ capacity to report on financial crimes.
This marks the second such training in Ghana, as part of MFWA’s broader efforts to combat corruption through media empowerment. So far, a total of 30 journalists across the three countries have been trained.
Participants were introduced to key topics, including financial transparency, Public Finance Management (PFM), tax avoidance, investigative journalism techniques, and the legal frameworks related to IFFs reporting.
Veteran Zimbabwean journalist and former Reuters employee, Cris Chinaka, who facilitated some of the sessions, emphasised the importance of African journalists focusing on IFFs.
According to him, illicit financial flows have devastating effects on Africa’s economic growth and development. He urged journalists to investigate and expose individuals, groups, and organisations involved in financial misconduct, stressing that the billions of dollars lost through IFFs could have been used to develop critical sectors such as education, employment, health, and energy.
“I believe it is crucial for us, as African journalists, to pay serious attention to the critical issue of IFFs. Africa is losing millions of dollars due to these illegal activities, depriving our economies of much-needed resources for rapid growth,” Mr. Chinaka stated.
He further called on journalists to sustain their commitment to reporting on the impact of IFFs in their respective countries.
“After gaining the necessary skills and knowledge, it is important for journalists to sustain their interest in this subject. One way to do so is by highlighting the real impact of these financial losses on ordinary people and exposing the gaps in governance that allow such losses to persist.
By doing this, journalists can push for greater accountability and reforms to minimize Illicit Financial Flows,” he reiterated.
The MFWA has been at the forefront of media empowerment in the fight against corruption, providing grants for investigative reporting, running financial transparency campaigns, and advocating for stronger accountability systems across West Africa.
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