Ghanaian journalists have been urged to lead advocacy and citizen mobilisation as part of efforts to fight against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and increase investment to the country.

IFFs are illegal financial transfers or movements of money across borders that contravene national and international laws and these could include corruption, illegal mining, money laundering, tax invasion, trade mispricing, and conflict financing. 

These activities contribute to hampering economies’ ability to mobilise the needed revenue for sustainable development, leading to continues borrowing and widening inequality among the poor and the beneficiaries of the illegal activities.

Dr Bishop Akologo, an Economist, said Ghana was losing billions of dollars to the IFFs annually, through corruption, bribery, poor contracting and investment, which posed significant challenges to the country’s development and financial governance.

For instance, the Global Financial Integrity report indicated that in 2015 alone, Ghana lost over US$3 billion through illicit financial flows in trade and mis-invoicing out of a US$ 9 billion export and import with developed countries.  

“Illicit financial flows rob us of development. We could have built schools, clinics and roads with those leaked monies, but we have lost all of that, and this leads to underdevelopment and increases inequality,” he said.

At a two-day capacity building workshop in Bolgatanga for journalists in the Upper East Region on IFFs in Ghana, Dr Akologo underscored their potential role in raising awareness among the citizenry and investigating illegal activities to help curb the menace.

Organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) with funding support from Oxfam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the training aimed to enhance knowledge on IFFs and equip journalists with skills to effectively report on those illicit financial flows and their impact on Ghana’s revenue mobilisation. 

The participants are also expected to effectively track the impact of government policies and responses to reducing IFFs through the skills acquired.

The Global Financial Integrity report indicated a US$ 758 million loss in import through over-invoicing, US$ 722 million to import through under-invoicing, US$ 117 million to export through over-invoicing and US$ 1.6 billion to export through under-invoicing, Dr Akologo said. 

“A few of us who are able to enjoy IFFs, increase our capacity to the detriment of those who are not able to participate in this illegal economy…so the media needs to build their own capacity, understand the issues to do independent analysis to help raise awareness,” he said.

“This will help to mobilise citizens to put pressure on duty bearers to do the right thing and do due diligence on all investments to ensure that we get the best value for our resources.” 

Dr Akologo, also the Executive Director of Technology Integration Point Ventures, said activities of IFFs were more pronounced in the natural resources sector, particularly in the mining sector, and called for the review of mining contracts to ensure the country benefitted appropriately from its natural resources.

Mr Benaiah Nii Addo, the Executive Director, Green Tax Youth Africa, said tax invasion and injustice were major factors feeding into IFFs in Ghana and called for strong political will to expand the tax net through a fair tax system that encouraged the honouring of tax obligations by individuals and institutions.

Mr William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, Programme Officer, MFWA, believed that the training would contribute to addressing the knowledge gap on illicit financial flows and whip up interest of journalists for effective reportage against the menace.

“The MFWA is convinced that independent and data-driven media reportage will not only expose IFFs and tax manipulation, but also address inequalities in the country,” he added.