The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has stated that government does not become weaker when journalists expose problems under its watch, but rather when those problems are ignored.
He made the remarks while delivering the welcome address at the Media and Stakeholders Accountability Forum dubbed “Leveraging Public Media Evidence to Strengthen Public Policy and Accountability.”
According to Mr. Braimah, every day in Ghana, journalists report serious problems confronting the country – from communities without good drinking water, abandoned projects, questionable public expenditure, to alleged acts of corruption.
“Some of these stories generate considerable public outrage. They dominate public discussion and sometimes provoke responses from public officials.
But after a few days, the headlines disappear, the outrage subsides, and quite often, the problems remain,” he observed.
He noted that children seen studying under trees continue to study under trees, communities without safe water remain without it, and abandoned projects remain abandoned even after millions of cedis and dollars have been spent.
Mr. Braimah said such developments raise fundamental questions that should guide the forum: How do we move from media exposure to institutional action? How do we move from public outrage to corrective measures? And how do we ensure that evidence from the media becomes evidence of improvements in public policy and accountability?
He stressed that beyond its traditional watchdog role, journalism generates valuable evidence that can help governments identify problems, address policy failures, and make better decisions – whether it is investigative journalists examining procurement records or visiting project sites where official records indicate projects have been completed but nothing exists on the ground.
“The aim is not to embarrass government, but to help government to do better, and to help public institutions to do better,” he said, adding that accountability journalism supports parliamentary oversight, government accountability processes, and regulatory institutions in ensuring reforms.
Mr. Braimah lamented that too often, such journalism is treated merely as news to be consumed, debated and forgotten, rather than evidence deserving serious institutional consideration.
He noted that through its projects, the MFWA has demonstrated the contribution that investigative journalism can make to public accountability, but said publication alone does not guarantee action.
“We must therefore ensure that credible media evidence does not become something stranded between exposure and inaction. And showing that media revelations translate into public accountability requires stronger engagement among media, public institutions and civil society,” he said.
He also called for responsibility on the part of journalists to ensure that evidence is credible, verified and fairly presented.
Mr. Braimah expressed hope that the forum would identify practical mechanisms through which media evidence can inform policy decisions and trigger meaningful institutional responses, urging public institutions to recognize credible media investigations not as acts of hostility, but as opportunities to correct mistakes and improve performance.
Addressing those who defend every wrongdoing of government for the sake of party loyalty, he stated emphatically: “A government does not become weaker because journalists expose problems under its watch. Indeed, governance becomes weaker when those problems are ignored or allowed to continue.”
He concluded with a call to build a system in which credible media investigations and exposure of wrongdoing will always mark the beginning of accountability and change.
By Sampson Kumah Ifeetwube Elvis
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