Investigations

2024: A call to action from the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors

By Editor February 2, 2024 54 0

In 2023, Africa proved to be an increasingly dangerous place, both for journalists and for journalism itself. Not only were at least eight of us murdered and 67 imprisoned in this one year, with scores more threatened and harassed, but even the practice of reporting the truth around us is being made increasingly difficult by […]Continue Reading

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Migration is not the West’s problem, it is Africa’s

By Editor October 24, 2023 129

A ZAM TRANSNATIONAL INVESTIGATION By Elizabeth BanyiTabi (Cameroon), Theophilus Abbah (Nigeria), Emmanuel Mutaizibwa (Uganda), Ngina Kirori (Kenya) and Brezh Malaba (Zimbabwe) A new ZAM transnational investigation into migration from five African countries shows that, in many cases, the urge to leave is so desperate that migrants consciously risk extortion by smugglers, Continue Reading

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Where exit is the biggest cash cow

By Editor October 24, 2023 127

Zimbabwe’s émigrés deliver billions into an ailing economy By Brezh Malaba “One of the most painful realities of being a teacher in Zimbabwe is that you cannot afford to give your own children a decent education,” says Obert Masaraure (39). Masaraure is a teacher and a trade unionist, as well as a parent with three […]Continue Reading

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Uganda| Between prayer and protest

By Editor October 24, 2023 122

By Emmanuel Mutaizibwa “He can pray for your visa,” promises apostle Goodwin, from his stage at the Zoe Ministries evangelical settlement on the shores of Lake Victoria, just outside Uganda’s capital Kampala. “Many have been helped already. They have travelled, they are working in the United States. You only have to bring offerings and he’ll […]Continue Reading

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Kenya | No alternatives

By Editor October 24, 2023 115

Ngina Kirori On Christmas Day in 2019, at her wits end after failing for long periods to put enough food on the table at home, Faith Murunga left Kakamega, her rural area in Kenya, with an “agent” who offered her a domestic worker job in Saudi Arabia. “I simply could not bear to see my […]Continue Reading

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Cameroon | Hope dies last

By Editor October 24, 2023 104

By Elizabeth BanyiTabi DOUALA, 2 June 2023 At the reception after the funeral of Bryan Achou*, people commiserate about death of the young man, who was only 28. “He’s a kid from my neighborhood! In less than two weeks we lost two children. One was in the oceans between Turkey and Greece, the other was […]Continue Reading

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Paying dictators | The Making of African Migration

By Editor October 24, 2023 93

By Elizabeth BanyiTabi, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah and Brezh Malaba Key Points Over sixty percent of EU-funded “returnee projects” fail “Rescue centres” in Saudi Arabia keep women detained for years Cameroonian businesspeople in the diaspora have stopped investing in their home country Migrants who were returned to Cameroon were arrested, tortured, Continue Reading

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Brain drain | The Making of African Migration

By Editor October 24, 2023 81

By Elizabeth BanyiTabi, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah and Brezh Malaba Key points Nine out of ten Nigerians said they want to “escape” “Frustration of excellence” is behind an exodus of doctors, IT experts, and teachers Academics leave behind silenced and empty campuses Oppression drives many to “vote with their feet” The extremely heavy […]Continue Reading

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Cash cows | The Making of African Migration

By Editor October 24, 2023 84

By Elizabeth BanyiTabi, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah and Brezh Malaba Key Points The financial exploitation of migrants is a multimillion-dollar business for agencies, rackets, syndicates, and scammers Many state officials are involved in schemes exploiting migrants The production of passports yields hundreds of thousands of dollars per day African Continue Reading

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Losing hope | The Making of African Migration

By Editor October 24, 2023 95

By Elizabeth BanyiTabi, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah and Brezh Malaba Key points Awareness campaigns about the risks of (illegal) migration, even the risk of dying, have little to no effect Aspiring migrants feel sadness about the state of their countries, but have little hope for change as their ruling elites are seen as […]Continue Reading

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The murder of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo

By Editor July 11, 2023 111

Arizona/ZAM How the killing of a Cameroonian journalist silenced investigations into plunder by an internationally-connected elite, eliminated a rival for the succession of an ageing president, and sidelined a tax director. Arizona Project Team A dossier full of bank slips, payment instructions, and tables of sums amounting to tens of millions of dollars, printed by […]Continue Reading

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How internationally connected Cameroon elites plundered US$ 656 million -and how a tax investigation was silenced after the murder of Martinez Zogo

By Editor July 11, 2023 118

Arizona Project Team How tax cases involving hundreds of millions in payments from state coffers to questionable entities were snuffed out. A list of 67 suspicious transactions scheduled for investigation by Cameroon’s tax agency shows a total equivalent to US$ 656 million in undeclared payments from state coffers to questionable business entities and individuals. The […]Continue Reading