The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is empowering journalists in Ghana to militate against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), as Ghana is estimated to lose at least US$ 3 billion annually through worrying trends.
Africa is reported to lose at least 50 million dollars through the illegal activities as political actors and a complex network of syndicates siphon funds across African borders through money laundering, tax evasion, transfer pricing and other forms of corrupt and business scandals.
The illicit act continues to plunge the continent into inequalities, vulnerability, conflicts and multidimensional poverty.
Ashanti Regional Director of the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO), Edward Cudjoe is worried over the growing illegal operations which impede national and continental growth.
“The extent of illicit financial flows is getting bigger and Ghana is no exception. We are losing billions of dollars through illicit financial flows. It denies countries the funds that they could have ordinarily used for development,” he warned.
Addressing journalists at a two-day intensive workshop in Kumasi, Mr. Cudjoe emphasized the critical need for journalists to widen their investigative skills in exposing the means through which monies illicitly exit offshore.
“As integral partners in dealing with crime, it is always important that we get to those who inform the public to set the tone and to raise discussions on illicit financial flows. This training is to aid the journalists understand IFFs and to know what to look out for so they can tell the story. What these stories do is that they expose and block the channels through which funds flow out of the jurisdiction,” he emphasized.
Role of Journalists
The training exposed journalists to in-depth understanding of illicit financial flows, progressive taxation and related offenses.
It expanded on the legal and regulatory regimes for addressing IFFs, and the sophistry of methodologies adopted by offenders.
Through a series of comprehensive theoretical and practical sessions, the training afforded participants the opportunity to learn about international organizations at the forefront of the fight against illicit financial flows.
As the country grapples with various tax regimes, particularly regressive ones, many individuals and businesses are compelled to reluctantly honour their tax obligations.
They are forced to engage in various unlawful conducts including tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax fraud.
On the heels of this disturbing trend, the journalists were further trained on progressive taxation to appreciate Ghana’s taxation laws.
Executive Director for Green Tax Youth Africa, Nii Addo is advocating reduction on the reliance on regressive taxes which bring about tax injustices.
“Taxes must be fair, sustainable and equitable in order not to overburden the poor, vulnerable and marginalized in society. Government must rely more on taxes like corporate taxes that are progressive rather than on regressive taxes levied on everyone regardless,” he noted.
MFWA Strategic Partnership
Programs assistant – Media for democracy and Good Governance with the Media Foundation for West Africa, Paul Gozo explained that the initiative was a timely response to the growing menace of Illicit Financial Flows and the global discourse surrounding progressive taxation.
“While illicit financial flows were thriving, we realized the media did not have the capacity, the training and the technical know-how to do stories on these critical issues. So the plan is to train 80 journalists on how to spot IFFs and issues of progressive taxation so that we can adequately report on it; get the issues to the fore and then see how we can curb it going forward,” he said.
The project forms part of ‘Strategic Partnership Initiative for Ghana and West Africa’ – a project funded by Oxfam Ghana and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).