When Ghanaian journalist Noadame was mercilessly harassed by police, dragged into court and forced into health to expose business magneto's exploitative monopoly on the Songo Lagoon salt mines on Ghana's east coast, it was the media base of West Africa (MFWA) that, in response to his report, was not silenced after his death.
The West African Media Foundation had to simultaneously navigate its mission in the local democratic and authoritarian states, operating in a ever-changing political and media environment.
Dam began receiving texts from Ghana's Criminal Investigation Division in response to reports in May 2022. The first message invited him to come to the police station in a Facebook post that paid attention to the saltwater company and its CEO, who were awarded a 39,000-acre mining concession for West Africa's largest salt deposit. He argued that the company has taken away traditional salt mining livelihoods from the local ADA community, and involves atrocities against local people when police and security forces protested.
Dame, a veteran journalist at the local radio station Radio ADA, continued to report on corruption, exploitation and human rights abuses against ADA residents, including arbitrary arrests, detention, cruelty and prosecution. He faced a lengthy legal battle against reporting, including defamation lawsuits, various arrests and detention, and criminal charges for “disclosure of false information.” In March 2023, he was jailed for a week without taking medication due to his chronic health condition. That same month, the MFWA petitioned the Ghanaian Attorney General to intervene. However, Dam died in September 2023 after a long-term health issue at the age of 49, just days before the trial was set.
“If one day they heard I had lost a mysterious death, it's about the Lagoon of Songo,” Dame said on a video recording a few months before his death. “The problem was that they frequently harassed, persecuted, prosecuted, and put me in the grave to put me behind the bar.”
After Dameh's death, the MFWA continued to amplify reports, bringing attention to patterns of abuse against ADA residents. Through the report, the MFWA discovers that the contracts given to the businessman violate the 1991 legal agreement regarding salt mining in Ghana, providing that artisan salt miners will not be sidelined from contracts with private companies.
“Behind our stories, citizens were able to return to the salt mines because they realized,” says Kwaku Asante, program manager for the MFWA Independent Journalism Project. “(Businessmen) could no longer push or attack them or harm thugs or police.”
“Conditions that will deteriorate”
“In West Africa and even in Africa, even worse, media houses have made it very difficult for us to expect from highly critical reports, accountability journalism.” – MFWA Program Manager Kwaku Asante
The MFWA is the first GIJN member since 2024, a regional non-governmental organization based in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, with national partner organizations in 15 other West African countries. It is among other areas of focus such as defending press freedom, advocacy for law and reform, engagement of local networks, and good governance and digital rights. It currently runs alongside 24 core staff in addition to West African researchers and correspondents.
Founded in 1997 by Ghanaian professor and consultant Kwame Karikari, the foundation had to simultaneously navigate its mission in the local democratic and authoritarian states to protect freedom of expression.
Protecting the right to free speech in these spaces requires a variety of approaches. Since the establishment of the MFWA, there have been at least 13 successful coups in West Africa.
A 2025 Borderless Reporter without a World Press Freedom Index notes the erosion of press freedom in West Africa, saying that many countries in the region fell to the rankings and there is a decline in security situation in the Sahel region.
By 2027, the foundation has been around for 30 years and will help it be exposed by protecting journalists from persecution and protecting them from political blows.
“We can provide information through our involvement with partner organizations in each country,” says Dora Boamah Mawutor, program director for the MFWA's freedom of expression and digital rights program. “We believe there must be a peaceful West Africa where everyone has the right to express themselves freely.”
Krickari launched the MFWA four years after Ghana's return to democratic governance. After more than 30 years of military and one party rule, the election took place in January 1992. At the time, there were five countries in West Africa's sub-regions led by oppressive juntas.
These political realities illustrate the enduring needs of the MFWA. Crispy's first idea was for the organization to advocate for press freedom across West Africa, including Mauritania, but the foundation evolved to do more, including providing legal services to incarcerated reporters through a network of lawyers, and publishing important investigations that were dangerous for local newsrooms to take over.
“Increasingly, across West Africa, and even in Africa, the rise of authoritarianism in situations that have worsened, has made it very difficult for media houses to report highly critically, accountability journalism, to do the accountability journalism we expect,” says Asante.
Check out our recent public lectures on the importance of free expression and democracy.
Supporting targeted journalists
In military-controlled Burkina Faso, the press's attacks on freedom intensified under the military government led by Ibrahim Traore, creating an atmosphere of fear and oppression among journalists trying to speak out. The MFWA is one of the few press freedom organizations that help journalists continue to report on the junta.
To further silence the press, journalists in Burkina Faso are being drafted into the military. This was explained by MFWA's Dora Boama Mauter.
The MFWA expanded its work in 2021 when it launched its Fourth Estate, a public interest newsroom that opens up bold investigations that frequently places journalists at politician intersections.
On March 24, 2025, Guezouma Sanogo, chairman of the Burkina Fa Socio Journalists Association (AJB), was invited to the Plain Cross Intelligence Officer three days after holding a press conference to end the oppressive treatment of Burkina Faso journalists. Sanogo later appeared in online videos, where his head was shaved and wearing military fatigue. Previously, three other journalists were similarly forced to draft.
Mawutor explains that his organization must be strategic to maintain communication with the independent media in these military states. For example, MFWA maintains relationships with journalists in exile from Burkina Faso and helps to protect them from oppressive governments, so that they cannot be tracked or tapped by communicating the marital chain.
In June 2020, the MFWA worked with other press freedom organisations to secure the release of Ignace Sossou, arrested Beninese reporter who allegedly cited government officials from the context. Their defense helped shave 12 months from Sossou's 18-month sentence.
“I cannot fully appreciate the consistent advocacy you undertake. “The conditions at the prison were terrible, but your fight for me has always maintained my spirit, along with the efforts of other press freedom organizations.”
Journalist Ignace Sossou (center) will visit the MFWA office with staff and the organization's executive director Sulemana Braimah (second from left). Sossou was arrested and charged in his native Benin after reporting about government officials. His prison sentence was later shortened thanks to the MFWA's advocacy. Image: Screenshot, MFWA
The fourth estate
The MFWA expanded its work in 2021 when it launched its Fourth Estate, a public interest newsroom that opens up bold investigations that often place journalists at the intersection of politicians. Over the past four years, the stories released on the platform have affected public conversations, exposed government misconduct, and revealed enduring human rights violations by influential people in Ghana and other West African countries. Their two stories created an annual list of Gijn's best surveys in this area (2021 and 2024).
The investigation of the fourth estate led to important government actions. Ghana's parliament has begun an investigation…and the government has finally cancelled a contract worth US$100 million.
One major survey in Ghana – the team was recognized at the 2024 Africa Research Journalist of the Year Award – reportedly exposed a consulting firm that reportedly made US$120 million a year for revenue monitoring in the mining and oil sectors. The fourth estate found that the company makes unfounded claims about its success but does little work.
After the fourth real estate announced its investigation, the story sparked a massive national investigation and response. The GHS3 Billion Lie, Exposé, revealed that despite having little expertise in oil revenue management, the same company was given a massive government contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The investigation of the fourth estate led to important government actions. Ghana's parliament began an investigation, and the country's president ordered international auditing company KPMG to consider the arrangement, and the government ultimately cancelled a contract worth USD 100 million. The Special Prosecutor's Office has issued an arrest warrant to the former Minister of Finance in connection with the original contract.
All this work is carried out amid ongoing challenges. Asante and Mawutor acknowledge that organizations face sudden financial and security challenges and struggle to navigate institutional barriers for both democratic countries such as Ghana and military states such as Burkina Faso. They say access to information is particularly difficult and funding is complicated by donor expectations in highly oppressive environments.
Asante says reporting often requires expensive travel, multiple journalist deployments, and permanent denial of access from authorities. The organization has endured lawsuits, and its reporters deal with online harassment and physical threats, particularly after publishing the exposition.
Despite these challenges, the MFWA has not dialed back efforts to promote accountability and robust coverage. The organization continues to publish reports on freedom of expression, women's rights, digital literacy and misinformation across West Africa.
The foundation also looks to the future and will organize Wameka, the largest West African media award to be held in October to run the next generation of fellowships to train young journalists and celebrate best practices.
Banjo Damirola is a Nigerian investigative journalist. She investigated corruption in the judicial system and documented misconduct in Nigerian police, courts and prisons. She was praised by the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism and was runner-up at the 2019 Thompson Foundation Young Journalist Awards.
