Kwaku Krobea Asante is a journalist, a media trainer, and a researcher. His interests include media, good governance, freedom of expression, fact-checking, and access to information laws in Africa. [1] He manages the Independent Journalism Project at the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). This project includes The Fourth Estate, which does investigative journalism, and Fact-Check Ghana, which works to counter wrong information. [2] [3]
Kwaku Krobea Asante was born in Kumasi, Ghana's Ashanti Region, where he received his early education. He later attended Opoku Ware Senior High School. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science, as well as a Master's degree in Communication Studies, all from the University of Ghana. [4]
Kwaku Krobea Asante currently manages the Independent Journalism Project at the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). This project includes The Fourth Estate, which focuses on investigative reporting, and he serves as the Lead for Fact-Check Ghana, which works to counter information disorder. [5]
In his role at the MFWA, he has led several key projects. He coordinated the communication and public outreach for the European Union-funded Africa We Want Project. [6] This effort involved 14 civil society groups across eight African countries, aiming to gain support for carrying out the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG).
Previously, he also led a media ethics project that tracked professional standards among 26 news outlets during Ghana's 2020 elections. Additionally, he is the communications lead for the MFWA. [7]
He is the founder and team lead for Fact-Check Ghana, which is the first fact-checking organization in Ghana. For Ghana's 2024 general election, he led the effort to establish the Ghana Fact-checking Coalition and set up the first media situation room to track and counter mis/disinformation during the election. [8]
Krobea and Seth Bokpe digged into a sophisticated, multi-year fraud where officials manipulated the authority's internal digital systems to insert thousands of non-existent people onto the national service payroll. [10] The fraud, exposed by at The Fourth Estate, used fake student credentials and index numbers, some of which were traced back to individuals in their 80s and 90s, to claim allowances. While NSS management publicly boasted about digitalization saving millions, the investigation found the system was secretly co-opted to generate these fraudulent payments. [11]
The mechanism of the fraud centered on bypassing mandatory monthly verification. High-level accounts at NSS headquarters were used to "pre-approve" ghost personnel for payment before regional directors could conduct their required physical checks. This manipulation over several years resulted in the loss of millions of Ghana cedis. [12] The scandal led to the uncovering of over 81,000 suspected ghost names and prompted a presidential order for a formal investigation into the former officials overseeing the scheme. [13]
His investigation, titled "Dangerous Endorsements," was conducted to expose the negligence of media houses regarding public health. He and his colleague Adwoa Adobea-Owusu created a fake herbal concoction, "Macofa Herbal Mixture" (coined from Malt, Coca-Cola, and Fanta), which had no FDA approval. They successfully paid at least eight major media platforms across the country—including TV and radio stations and the state-owned newspaper, the Daily Graphic—to advertise the non-existent medicine. The primary method used was the Live Presenter Mention (LPM), where hosts spontaneously endorsed the product as a cure for serious ailments like infertility and sexual impotence, a practice explicitly banned by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for medicinal products. [16]
The exposé had an immediate and significant impact, "jolting" Ghana’s food and medicines regulator into action. The FDA publicly announced it would initiate a major clampdown and sanctions against any media house promoting unapproved or falsely advertised medicines, emphasizing that these stations were violating the Public Health Act. Furthermore, the investigation revealed laxity at the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC), where reporters were able to register a non-existent company (Krodwoa Enterprise) and practitioner, prompting the Deputy Minister of Health to promise a formal inquiry into the licensing process. [17]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)