The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is raising an army of journalists in Ghana to join a crucial fight against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) as Africa hemorrhages profusely, losing at least US$50 billion annually under disturbing circumstances,
While conglomerates, political actors and a complex networked of syndicates syphon these funds across African borders through money laundering, tax evasion, transfer pricing and other forms of corrupt and shady business deals, the continent continues to plunge deeper into inequalities, marked vulnerability, conflicts and multidimensional poverty.
Addressing participating journalists at a two-day intensive residential workshop held in the Ashanti Regional capital Kumasi, Regional Director of the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO) Edward Cudjoe expressed deep concern the operatives and actors leading the cabal of looters keep widening, further threatening the resilience of a continent that continues to survive on the ever thinning threads of donor aid.
“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.
Mr. Edward Cudjoe underscored the urgent need for journalists to direct their investigative lenses towards exposing the routes through which these funds are wantonly leaving the continent.
“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,” Cudjoe emphasized.
The EOCO Boss pointed out that the stakes for uncovering these crimes are heightened because of the complicity of officialdom, the convenient lethargy of corrupt law enforcement and regulatory authorities and the smartness of the perpetrators in crafting shell companies, hiding returns, creating offshore operations in safe havens and exploiting administrative lapses to either avoid or completely evade taxes.
The mission driven training, exposed journalists to a deeper understanding of illicit financial flows and associated offenses; the legal and regulatory regimes for addressing IFFs and the growing sophistication of methodologies adopted by offenders.
Through a series of intensive theoretical and practical sessions; the training exposed participants to existing international organizations in the forefront of reducing illicit financial flows
It additionally provided a platform for journalists to build valuable networks with state actors as well as other persons in the media, already making giant strides in the investigation of illicit financial flows on the continent and beyond.
Progressive Taxes
The second leg of the training which focused on progressive taxation invited journalists to appreciate Ghana’s taxation laws, Ghana’s medium term strategy for revenue generation and the various avenues that lend themselves to tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax fraud.
Executive Director for Green Tax Youth Africa, Nii Addo advocated strongly for the state to be prompted to reduce the reliance on regressive taxes that pay little attention to the economic status of the vulnerable.
“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 canker of Illicit Financial Flows and the global debate around 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 told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador.
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)
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Ivan Heathcote – Fumador
