The Fourth Estate

Most of Ghana’s major roads and streets are persistently dark at night. This is despite the fact that Ghanaians pay a 3 percent energy levy on their electricity bills. Investigations by The Fourth Estate found that, the Energy Ministry between 2023 and 2025 awarded street lighting contracts worth eight billion Ghana cedis – mostly without competitive bidding. On this episode of the podcast, we go behind the numbers to discuss why Ghana’s streets remain dark despite the billions awarded in contracts.

From September 2026, The Fourth Estate is inviting its readers to become stakeholders in a new membership model that keeps its public interest journalism going while giving supporters a stake in the mission. In this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa to unpack how this membership drive works, why it matters, and what it could mean for the future of public interest journalism in Ghana.

The Fourth Estate’s investigations into the Mahama administration’s flagship construction project, The Big Push, generated a lot of public debate about the use and abuse of sole source procurement in the award of public contracts. In May 2026, in response to The Fourth Estate’s investigation, the presidency released a 72-page report which concluded that the Ministry of Roads and Highways did not abuse the sole source process in its award of contracts under the Big Push initiative. Interestingly, the number of Big Push contracts used to arrive at that conclusion differed from those obtained by The Fourth Estate through a Right to Information (RTI) request from the Roads Ministry. While the presidency’s response sought to dispute the number of sole-sourced contracts awarded under the initiative, it however, did not dispute the cost per project contained in The Fourth Estate’s report. So what did the presidency miss in its own review of contracts awarded under its flagship project? Kwaku Krobea Asante joins us to break down the figures and point out where they fall short.

To equip young journalists with critical, in-depth reporting skills, The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) five years ago, launched the Next Generation Investigative Journalists (NGIJ) fellowship. In this episode, we take a look at the journey of the NGIJ fellowship since its inception. We sit down with past and present fellows, as well as MFWA leadership, to track the program's successes, its toughest hurdles, and impact on the media landscape

When the local government ministry started the sanitation guards initiative in 2007, the goal was clear - to help make Ghana cleaner. But as laudable as the idea is, a lot of the guards who have been recruited over the years have dropped out of the program managed by Zoomlion and many are considering exiting as well due to non-payment of allowances stated in their contracts. The Fourth Estate's Elizabeth Abena Egyin and Edmond Boateng who spoke with some sanitation guards and municipal health officers join us on the podcast to tell us more about the why the guards have not been paid and the impact the non-payment of allowances is having on the work of the district and municipal health and environmental officers.

Article 286 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana requires public office holders to declare their assets and liabilities before they assume office. They are also required to do same at the end of every four years and at the end of their term of office. But enforcing this has been a challenge for several governments over the years. Out of the current 276 Members of Parliament, 151 are yet to declare their assets and liabilities a year into their term. This number includes MPs who have been in parliament for over a decade. In this episode of the podcast, Seth Bokpe who has been reporting on asset declaration in Ghana since 2022 for The Fourth Estate, joins us to explain why enforcement of this law is a challenge and who is responsible for ensuring public office holders are held accountable when they fail to declare their assets and liabilities.

Shortly after the Fourth Estate released its documentary 'Medical Kalabule', the Health Minister formed a committee to investigate allegations made in the documentary. The committee's report indicted only one of the medical professionals named in the documentary for overcharging patients for surgical tools and recommended him for disciplinary action. Two other medical professional were exornerated. The committee's report also indicated that “After careful examination of the evidence presented, the committee concluded that allegations of deliberate collusion, commonly known as medical kalabule, between doctors and suppliers could not be substantiated.” In this episode of the podcast, Joojo Cobbinah who produced the Medical Kalabule documentary, walks us through the committee's report and reacts to its conclusion that the "allegations of deliberate collusion between doctors and suppliers could not be substantiated."

Right at the start of his second term in office, President John Mahama pledged to eliminate sole-sourcing, suggesting a push for new legislation to end the practice of awarding public contracts without competitive bidding. It was a bold promise, framed as part of a broader effort to improve transparency and accountability in government procurement. But an investigation by The Fourth Estate suggests a gap between policy and practice. Looking closely at contracts under the government’s flagship Big Push infrastructure programme, reporters found that more than half were awarded through sole-sourcing — the very approach the President has vowed to abolish. The findings have already drawn attention at the highest level and sparked fresh questions about how major public projects are being executed. In this episode, The Fourth Estate editor Kwaku Krobea Asante breaks down the investigation, explains how the contracts were tracked, and reflects on what this means for procurement reform in Ghana.

Typically, when someone dies under mysterious circumstances, the police launch an investigation to ascertain if it was a murder or accidental. But what happens when a person dies under questionable circumstances while in police detention? For the documentary Death in Detention: Suspected Killings in Ghana's Police Custody , Joojo Cobbinah and Edmund Boateng spoke with families of a number of people who died while in police custody. The police account of their deaths raised more questions than answers for the families who are demanding justice for their relatives. In this episode of the podcast, we sit with Joojo and Edmund to find out what motivated them to work on this story, the challenges they encountered while working on the documentary, and ask what next in terms of accountability as the Police are yet to respond to a right to information request sent to them by the Fourth Estate.

Investigations by The Fourth Estate revealed that over a five-year period, at least 19 people died while being detained by the Ghana Police Service. Four of those deaths, according to the police, were suicides. But families of the deceased suspects have rejected the claims. In the first of our two-part documentary, Death in Detention: Suspected Killings in Ghana's Police Custody, Joojo Cobbinah and Edmund Kofi Boateng speak with the families of three suspects who died under questionable circumstances while in police custody. The families are still fighting for justice and demanding answers about how their relatives died.

When the documentary, Medical Kalabule, was released earlier this month, it exposed the desperation and lengths some critically ill patients and their families were willing to go for care. While a committee set up by the Ministry of Health investigates the issues raised in the documentary, we go behind the scenes with the documentary's producer, Joojo Cobbinah. In this episode, Joojo talks about how he came to work on the documentary as well as the challenges involved in putting it together. From witnesses who suddenly declined to share their experiences to a mysterious figure who appeared to be shadowing Joojo's investigations. This is the inside story of how the documentary Medical Kalabule, almost didn't happen.

Some doctors in Ghana entrusted with saving lives have instead been preying on patients in desperate need of urgent, life-saving surgeries. In a health system already stretched by staff shortages, limited infrastructure and chronic equipment gaps, some surgeons have found a way to turn crisis into profit. The Fourth Estate’s investigation uncovers how patients at Ridge Hospital were allegedly forced to pay inflated prices for surgical supplies, along with so-called “service fees” that did not go to the hospital, but straight into private pockets. When families are racing against time to save loved ones, the pressure to pay is intense and the room to question is almost nonexistent – giving the doctors all the opportunities they need to exploit patients and their families. In this episode, we present the first two parts of our investigative documentary, Medical Kalabule. Produced by Joojo Cobbinah, the documentary exposes how vulnerability in Ghana’s healthcare system has been exploited for gain by the people who have sworn an oath to help the sick and abstain from intentional wrongdoing.

In just about five short years, The Fourth Estate has produced investigations that have dominated national conversations and triggered real-world consequences, from prosecutions to policy reviews. But how did this project begin, and why does it work so differently from conventional newsrooms? In this opening episode, host Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey sits down with the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, to unpack the thinking behind The Fourth Estate. They discuss why the project prioritises deep, time-intensive investigations over daily news, the challenges of running a non-profit investigative newsroom, and the risks journalists face when powerful interests are exposed. Sulemana Braimah reflects on the stories that have defined the project so far, the impact they have had on governance, public accountability and ordinary lives, and why investigative journalism remains essential to building a fairer society. He also shares his vision for the future, including plans to turn The Fourth Estate into a truly people-powered project. This episode sets the tone for the podcast: thoughtful, reflective, and grounded in the belief that journalism, when done properly, serves the public interest.

The Fourth Estate Podcast takes Ghana’s most impactful investigations beyond the written page. In just a few years, The Fourth Estate has broken stories that sparked official investigations, triggered prosecutions and forced hard national conversations about power, accountability and justice. This podcast fills the missing piece by giving you a simple way to engage with that journalism by listening. Go behind the scenes with the reporters who broke these stories, hear from sources who trusted us with their experiences, and follow up on investigations that continue to shape democracy and good governance in Ghana. Listen to The Fourth Estate wherever you get your podcasts.