A two-day workshop held to equip Ghanaian journalists and civil society organisations with the requisite skills to fight corruption and promote transparency in the country’s extractive sector has ended at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.
The USAID-funded workshop was organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) as part of its campaign to combat corruption, promote transparency, and increase public accountability in the extractive sector in West Africa.
Opening the workshop, the CEO of CJID, Dapo Olorunyomi, said Africa’s green mineral economy must not suffer the fate of traditional minerals such as crude oil.
He noted that the potential for the green mineral industry to transform Africa’s economies and build a safe, resilient environment cannot be overstated.
But that can only happen within a more transparent, accountable extractive regime devoid of corruption and opaqueness, he noted.
Mr Olorunyomi explained that the JET minerals challenge workshops in Nigeria, DR Congo, Mozambique, and Ghana are one good step away from achieving that milestone.
CEO of CJID, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, addressing the participants in Ghana
Over 30 participants selected from Ghana’s major media platforms and CSOs attended the training, which began on July 8 and ended on July 9, 2024.
Experts in the extractive sector led the participants through major topics of interest, including how journalists can spot the gaps and possible areas of corruption.
Dr Steve Manteaw, who co-chairs an Accra-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), facilitated a session on the theme “Understanding corruption in the African mining sector.”
The experienced anti-graft campaigner explained to the participants how corruption manifests and its implications in the extractive sector. Dr Manteaw again facilitated a session on “Beneficial ownership in the extractive sector; the role of disclosure in constraining corruption.”
Dr Steve Manteaw touched on the need for Ghanaian journalists to promote public accountability in the extractive sector
The Director for Analysis, Research, and Finance at the Ghana Chamber of Mines Mr Christopher Opoku Nyarko also led the participants through Policy Measures of Transparency and Good Governance in the Green Minerals Sector as well as Mining of Critical Minerals and Links to Human Rights Violations and Conflict Financing in Africa.
The session’s rationale was for the journalists to understand the governance structures, policies, and regulation of energy minerals and how each process is amenable to corruption.
A cross-section of participants at the two-day workshop
Speaking on the theme “Interviewing and safety tips for extractive sector reporting,” celebrated investigative journalist and 2022 PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year Erastus Asare Donkor encouraged Ghanaian journalists to adopt a fearless approach to addressing corrupt practices in the country’s extractive industry.
Celebrated Ghanaian investigative journalist Erastus Asare Donkor walked participants through his journey as an investigative journalist.
The Assisting Editor of Kumasi-based Luv FM shared his journey as an investigative journalist with the participants. His masterpiece “Forests under Siege,” a documentary that unravelled how a reserved forest in Ghana was turned into a mining site with the connivance of state actors, prompted the government to take action on the matter.
Mr Asare Donkor, however, encouraged Ghanaian journalists to explain their investigative projects to their families to quell their fears about possible death or harm to them. “Let your family know what you are doing,” he said.
The Programmes Director of CJID, Akintunde Babatunde, underscored the importance of the JET Minerals Challenge workshop in building the capacity of journalists and CSOs to understand the Green Mineral value chain and promote transparency and accountability in the sector.
He said the training’s objective is to have the participants generate practical investigative story ideas to expose corruption in the extractive sector. He noted that the relatively new Green mineral sector, especially in Ghana and other African countries, cannot be allowed to be susceptible to corrupt practices, opaqueness, and other vices.
Mr Babatunde also took participants through the two artificial intelligence and digital verification tools developed by the Centre in collaboration with its fact-checking department, DUBAWA.
CJID Executive Director Akintunde Babatunde showed the participating journalists how they could use the AI tools developed by DUBAWA
The tools, DUBAWA Chatbot and DUBAWA Audio, have been developed to simplify the verification process of claims identified by journalists and address misinformation and disinformation on the continent.
“We have developed these AI tools for journalists and citizens to use in verifying claims they come across,” Mr Babatunde told the gathering.
The other topics included: “The Role of JET Minerals in Energy Transition (Opportunities, Risks and Emerging Issues for Green Minerals Exploitation in Africa – Lithium) which was taken by Policy lead, Petroleum and Conventional Energy, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Mr Kodzo Yaotse; “Data for Natural Resource Journalism; making sense of the data,” by Ibilolia Akahome from Dataphyte and “Inclusive energy transition; addressing gender dynamics in the Green Minerals Sector” by Denis Gyeyir with the Natural Resource Governance Institute.
The campaign’s final section involves the participants developing pitches that will lead to impactful investigative stories in the extractive sector.
