The media guide, launched on August 1, 2025, was developed to equip editors and journalists with the requisite knowledge to uncover and report on issues of IFFs and other related financial irregularities for nation building.

To create awareness and facilitate accessibility and use of the guide among media practitioners, the MFWA organised a sensitisation workshop for selected journalists in the Western Region to introduce them to the document.

The workshop, held in Takoradi, was part of activities under the project titled: “Tax for Development: Strengthening Civil Society and Media for Fiscal Justice”, being implemented by the MFWA, with funding support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through OXFAM in Ghana.

Dr Bishop Akolgo, the Consultant for the Guide, speaking at the workshop said the document contained step-by-step methods for journalists to spot IFFs stories with real-world case studies that could help transform them into evidence-based storytellers.

According to him, data revealed that IFFs from Africa was estimated to be over $88.6 billion annually, noting that Ghana’s IFFs mostly stemmed from extractive, trade, and tax evasion.
“The money Ghana loses to illicit financial flows is critical to its development and could be used to address major challenges in the country like education, health and others,” he said.

Dr Akolgo stated that weak tax systems and regulatory oversight, political corruption and lack of transparency coupled with global demand for secrecy and safe havens had become drivers of IFFs.

He noted that the Guide contained all the necessary information to help journalists build confidence to investigate hidden financial flows, while holding individuals, governments, and multinational corporations accountable.

Madam Rosemond Ebi-Adwo Aryeetey, Senior Programmes Manager, Media for Democracy and Good Governance, MFWA, urged journalists to make good use of the Guide to help shape their ability to pay critical attention to IFFs related cases, and report on them for public interest and accountability.

Mr Desmond Cudjoe, Western Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, commended MFWA and its partners for developing the Guide, and said it would go a long way to sharpen the investigative skills of journalists in the area of IFFs, progressive taxation, reserved-based lending and domestic resource mobilisation.