Unmasking Corruption in Africa: Understanding the Challenges Investigative Journalism Faces in Reporting Political Corruption in Ghana

Corruption is the major plague of governments in both developing and developed countries. Empirically, it is not implausible to link nations with high levels of corruption to conditions of extreme poverty and perverse inequality. Corruption is one of the most detrimental obstacles to socioeconomic development in Africa. When corruption is pervasive, a significant portion of the population is denied access to resources, and national cakes are misdirected. Unfortunately, this is the case in many countries, particularly those where extreme poverty and inequality are prevalent. Ghana is no exception, as reports of corruption have been increasingly common in recent years. Prior research indicates that Ghana loses over $3 billion (USD) annually to corruption. Regimes have made several efforts to combat corruption since the country's return to democratic rule in 1992. Additionally, under the rubric of investigative journalism, the media and some individual journalists have made significant strides in fighting corruption. In the last two decades, the activities of the media and a private investigative journalist against corruption have resulted in the arrest, conviction, and incarceration of corrupt officials and have exposed corruption in several branches of government, leading to the public's increased demand for transparency and accountability in government institutions. It is imperative to underscore that despite such commendable strides, investigative journalism continues to receive vehement and antagonistic criticism in a way that individual investigators are frightened by death threats. In effect, individual investigators have been cocooned and self-censored because of the life threats. The most recent one that plagued the country and dented its image badly intentionally is the assassination of Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a vibrant journalist and member of an Investigative Team (Tiger Eye PI) who helped to expose the corrupt activities of the former president of Ghana Football Association President, Kwesi Nyantakyi. Critics, including key government officials, questioned investigative journalism's methods and modus operandi, especially one adopted by Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s Team. They argue that it is unethical because it invades the privacy of target individuals and groups. Investigative journalism plays an increasingly important role in the complex web of global governance, especially in developing democracies where political institutions have yet to establish themselves. The synergistic connection between investigative journalism and the effort to combat corruption becomes more evident as Ghana progresses through its democratic transition. This study is mixed-method research. The target population for the study includes Investigative Journalists, Heads of departments of Journalism Institutions, and Heads of Media Houses. Questionnaires were developed to collate data from respondents based on the research objective. Descriptive mean and standard deviation statistics and inferential statistics of multiple regression were used to analyse the quantitative data. While themes were used to analyse qualitative data. The results of both quantitative and qualitative were triangulated. The study is expected to provide alternative solutions to investigative journalists in their efforts to bulwark the endemic corruption and consolidate Ghana’s democracy.