African Civil Society Organizations Join Forces to Combat Illicit Financial Flows

This article was originally published by My Joy News Online on the 18th of March 2024.

Photo courtesy: My Joy News Online - Ghana.

A network of civil society organizations, founded with the united effort of leading tax justice voices across Africa, is raising concerns over the persistent rise in illicit financial flows out of the continent.

Key continental bodies such as the African Union have, on a number of occasions, pointed out the huge fiscal gaps created by the continuous cycle of much-needed revenue flowing illicitly out of a continent which is in dire need of funds for development.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Africa loses as much as $60 billion each year in illicit financial flows.

However, Executive Director of Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), Chenai Mukumba, says the issue of illicit financial flows deserves more attention, as it is a matter that all Africans should be "worried" about.

“Really what it speaks to is revenue that's being generated from resources that are within our continent, so statistics about the amount of money that we lose as a continent range from the initial estimates of $50 billion a year that was identified in 2015 to now, more recent statistics that show that it's close to $90 billion a year. all of us should be concerned is because all of this money that we lose is money that could be invested into key areas within our economies, within our societies,” she said.

The Tax Justice Network Africa also asserts that tax exemptions are becoming another major revenue leakage point for many African countries. It says a cost-benefit analysis will be needed to plug these revenue losses.

"At the national level, we need to strengthen our legislation. We need to strengthen our institutions. We need to build the capacity, for example, of revenue authorities,” Ms Chenai further stated.

Alongside leading researchers, policymakers, campaigners, and civil society organisations, TJNA says it is mobilising a movement to comprehensively transform tax policies, challenge harmful investment practices, improve international tax transparency, and restore the sovereignty of natural resources to African countries.

TJNA is the leading Pan-African civil society network dedicated to issues of Tax justice.