By Francis Ntow
Accra, July 21, GNA – Journalists have been urged to strengthen their knowledge of public finance and taxation to enhance accountability and scrutiny of government, particularly at the local level.
The call was made at a three‑day training in Koforidua for journalists from Ashanti, Greater Accra, Western, Central, Volta and Eastern Regions on local public financial management and fiscal decentralisation.
The training was organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in partnership with the Media Foundation for West Africa under the Participation, Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIReD) programme.
It is commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and co‑financed by the EU in Ghana and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, with implementation partnership from the Ministry of Finance.
Dr Juergen Eheke, Component Manager at GIZ‑PAIReD, said journalists’ effectiveness depended on how well they understood the systems they covered.
“It falls to journalists to ask the right questions, challenge official narratives, and sometimes push back against the story government wants to tell.
“It is necessary that the media know what they are talking about. This knowledge is essential to the proper functioning of government,” he said.
Eheke illustrated how public finance often obscured realities, citing Germany’s health insurance and pension contributions, formally split between employer and employee but in practice shaped by bargaining power.
He drew a parallel to Ghana’s Value Added Tax reforms, where the economic burden depended on relationships between supermarkets, suppliers and importers.
Dr Eheke announced a second phase of training later in the year to align with the rollout of Ghana’s new intergovernmental fiscal framework, equipping participants to scrutinise local government finances under emerging rules.
Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin of the University of Ghana Business School, a facilitator, reinforced the case for economic literacy in journalism.
He said scrutiny of taxation and expenditure was essential to accountability and transparency.
“Economic literacy, whether applied to a household VAT receipt or a national IMF exit strategy – is what separates surface‑level reporting from journalism capable of holding power to account,” he said.
Prof Bokpin said that sustaining Ghana’s current economic stability and translating it into structural transformation would require sustained public scrutiny, achievable only through an economically literate media.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Francis Ntow