Digital revolution: Hold system to account, MFWA tasks journalists

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has urged journalists in the region to hold digital systems to account if Africa’s fast-moving revolution was to be fair, inclusive and rights-respecting.

Mr Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director, MFA made the call on Thursday in Accra, Ghana, at the opening of the 8th West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA).

The three day event opened with the theme, ”Journalism and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in Africa”.

According to him, journalism must guard trust as Africa builds DPI.

Braimah described the DPI digital IDs, interoperable payment systems and data exchange platforms as the ”highway upon which Africa’s next chapter of growth will travel”.

He warned however, that without rigorous reporting the continent risked building systems that were efficient but not fair; powerful but not accountable.

”No matter how sophisticated a piece of technology is, it cannot be a driver of development if it is not accompanied by the fundamentals of trust, transparency, inclusion, privacy, and all the other fundamentals of human rights,” he said.

The executive director urged journalists to probe who is included or left out, how identities and data are protected, and whether digital payments entrench inequality.

To strengthen that watchdog role, Braimah said the foundation had partnered with Co-Develop and other funders to run a DPI journalism fellowship across West Africa.

”So far, the fellows have produced a total of 376 stories,” Braimah said, adding that the project trained 65 journalists from 10 countries including Nigeria to report on DPI roll outs and governance.

In her remark, Akua Owusu-Darko, Co-Develop’s Senior Investment Associate, stressed the strategic stakes.

”We believe that digital infrastructure is the new public good. How it’s built, governed and used will shape Africa’s socio-economic landscape,” she said.

Owusu-Darko urged media and development partners to support reporting that insists DPI are safe, inclusive, people-centric and grounded in human rights.

She noted that fellowship reporting had already influenced conversations on birth registration, data protection and digital tax policy across the region.

On his part, Ebenezer Asiedu, Head of Division for Democracy and Good Governance at the ECOWAS Commission, highlighted cross-border initiatives, including a West African biometric identity and policies to make mobile calls affordable across neighbouring states.

He argued that the media must help build public awareness and trust so that such systems serve regional citizens rather than entrench exclusion.

Opening the conference on behalf of Ghana’s Ministry of Communications, Deputy Minister Mohammed Sukparu echoed the theme that technology alone was insufficient.

Quoting UN Secretary-General António Guterres, he said technology could be a force for good, but only if it served people, protected their rights, and helped broaden opportunity.

”A strong, free and ethical media is the bedrock of digital democracy,” he said.

Supreme news reports that the conference brings together journalists, technologists, policymakers, regional bodies and development partners including Co-Develop and DW.

The conference will close with awards on Saturday spotlighting DPI reporting that advances transparency and inclusion.