AFRODAD Calls on African Journalists to Expose Debt Crisis Impact

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The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) has urged journalists across Africa to play a greater role in exposing the human impact of the continent’s growing debt crisis and holding leaders accountable over borrowing decisions.

Speaking during the opening of the sixth edition of the African Media Initiative on Debt and Development (AFROMEDI VI) in Nairobi, Kenya, AFRODAD Interim Executive Director, Dr. Theophilus Yungong Jong, said debt reporting should be treated as a major public interest issue because it directly affects ordinary citizens.

Addressing 45 journalists from 29 African countries attending the three-day forum from May 27 to 29, 2026, Dr. Jong said debt was not just about figures and economic policy, but about the daily struggles faced by Africans.

“Debt is not an abstract number. It is the classroom that was never built, the clinic that ran out of medicine, the scholarship that was cancelled and the civil servant who went unpaid,” he said.

He noted that AFROMEDI was created after AFRODAD realized that many citizens were disconnected from complex discussions taking place in international financial institutions and government boardrooms.

According to him, journalists are critical in helping citizens understand how borrowing decisions affect public services, development and national sovereignty.

“We are not asking journalists to become advocates, but when citizens understand what was promised in their name, they demand accountability,” he said.

Since its launch in 2021, AFROMEDI has brought together about 600 journalists from 37 African countries to strengthen reporting on debt, development financing and illicit financial flows.

Dr. Jong also announced the launch of the AFRODAD Courses on Debt and Development (A-CoDD), a platform aimed at expanding debt and development reporting skills to more journalists across the continent.

He urged participants to continue collaborating through the Media-Debt Network Africa (M-DNA) and to keep questioning leaders about agreements and commitments made on behalf of citizens.

Closing his remarks, Dr. Jong emphasized the need for Africa to become a “rule maker, not a rule taker” in global financial governance, saying journalism would play a key role in shaping that future.