Corruption Watch’s Francisca Enchill won Bronze in the television category at the Norbert Zongo African Prize for Investigative Journalism (PAJI-NZ) 2023, held in Burkina Faso on Saturday.
Her story titled Pay Or Die… The Agony of Pregnant Women in Hospitals was adjudged the 3rd best investigative report with a Bronze prize package of 250,000 CFA Franc.
Attached are the links to the story which were in two parts: Pay or Die (Part 1) and Pay or Die (Part 2).
Francisca sees her award as a great recognition of her work in Africa and a motivation to work harder.
On October 21, 2023, the PAJI-NZ 2023 Jury announced the winners in each category. A total of 12 winners, including four CENOZO members, were honoured in four categories (Radio, TV, Online Press, and Print).
The SEBGO D’OR, the prize for the best investigation in all categories, was awarded to journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni for his investigation in the TV category, which revealed the Covid-19 spraying scandal initiated by President Akufo-Addo in Ghana. The Jury also awarded a special mention to journalist Kelly Kanda from Mali for the relevance of her Radio investigation into the plight of women victims of rape in Mali.
Here are the PAJI-NZ 2023 winners:
PAJI-NZ 2023 AWARDS
- RADIO CATEGORY
- 3rd Azil Momar Lo (Senegal): Investigative journalist and fact-checker, Azil was the winner of PAJI-NZ 2021 in the Radio category. For this edition, he came 3rd with his investigation into the trafficking of Indian hemp in Rufisque through the use of motorcycles, entitled “The New Bikers of the Cartel”.
- 2nd Akissi Marthe Kra (Côte d’Ivoire): Journalist-reporter and presenter at Radio Côte d’Ivoire, she is already the winner of several journalism prizes. His investigation entitled Bianouan, the invisible mercury patients is second in the PAJI-NZ 2023 Radio category. This production reveals how one of the symbols of southeastern Ivory Coast is sinking due to illegal mining activity in the area which contaminates this source where nearly 50 thousand inhabitants obtain a good part of their food.
- 1st Zefania Zulu (Zambia): Zefania Zulu is an investigative journalist based in Lusaka, Zambia, with over a decade of experience in the media industry. He specializes in investigative reporting on local and cross-border communities with a focus on politics, environment, land, corruption, human rights and indigenous communities. He won the PAJI-NZ 2023 in the Radio category with his investigation Exploitation of Copper Mine in Zambia, a work which explores how the exploitation of Zambian copper does not benefit local populations, on the contrary.
2. TELEVISION CATEGORY
- 3rd Francisca Enchill (Ghana): A bold, multi-award-winning investigative journalist, Francisca is the first female winner of the Best Investigative Journalist of the Year award at the 26th Ghana Journalists Awards. Its Corruption Watch investigations: Pregnant women forced to pay for treatment already covered under NHIS, demonstrates how pregnant women in Ghana are forced to pay for care supposedly covered by the state.
- 2nd Ibrahim Karanja (Kenya): A journalist specializing in investigations, current affairs, politics and governance, crime and security, Ibrahim Karanja works for the Nation Media Group in Kenya. This evening he receives the 2nd PAJI-NZ Television Prize 2023 with the investigation “Black Gold Heist | The Rot in the Coffee Sub-Sector” which talks about the rot in the coffee sub-sector in Kenya.
- 1st Manasseh Awuni (Ghana): He won 1st Prize in the TV category with his investigation The Covid-19 Spraying Scandal Initiated by President Akufo –Addo who delves into the twists and turns of the Covid-19 spraying scandal initiated by President Akufo -Addo in Ghana. How officials took advantage of Covid19 and Ghana’s market and public square disinfection program to enrich themselves.
3. ONLINE CATEGORY
- 3rd Momar Dieng (Senegal): Chinese hands on Senegalese peanuts: from disorder in the sector to suspicions of money laundering, this is the investigation by Momar Dieng published on May 20, 2021 on the Impact.sn site of which he is the founder and the leader. This investigation exposes the methods of Chinese firms which are slowly killing the local market for peanuts and their oil in the country of Téranga.
- 2nd Manasseh Awuni (Ghana): He is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist and specialist in investigative reporting on corruption, who collaborates with several media outlets in Ghana and abroad. The series of investigations into cases of rape of women seeking motherhood by their treating doctors earned him the silver PAJI-NZ in the Online Press category; with the work entitled The licensed sex predator.
- 1st Pierre Claver Kuvo (Togo): A Togolese investigative journalist, he carried out the best online press investigation of PAJI-NZ 2023 as part of the ICIJ’s Shadow Diplomats project, published on December 13, 2022. This is the story entitled An Empire for mining. This investigation explains and denounces how businessmen, active in particular in the mining sector, manage to have themselves designated Honorary Consul of African countries such as Togo and take advantage of this title of diplomat to carry out trafficking of all kinds.
4. PRINT CATEGORY
- 3rd Babacar Gueye Diop (Senegal): On his CV, it is mentioned that he is keen to constantly develop his skills in order to ensure his professional development, through the identification of ideas for investigations and reports. Journalist at Quotidien National, his investigation Reform of rural water management: water of desolation, exposes the incompetence and inconsistencies of Senegalese concessionaires in water distribution.
- 2nd Boudal Ndiath (Senegal): Founder of the site Dakarexpress.net and Sénégalsport and journalist at the E -M édias Press group, Boudal Ndiath worked on a subject of organized crime, in particular the phenomenon of the circulation of counterfeit notes. His investigation Fake banknotes on the Louga-Thiès-Dakar axis: Heavy traffic brings him PAJI-NZ money in the written press.
- 1st Ibrahim Manzo Diallo (Niger): An investigative journalist based in Agadez, nearly 1000 km from the capital Niamey, he is the publishing director of the newspaper Aïr Info. The investigation which earned him this award is entitled Mali-Burkina-Niger, clandestine gold-panning and terrorism: sweat, blood and tears. It is a cross-border investigation which highlights the close links between clandestine gold panning and the terrorist groups which are plaguing the Sahel regions between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
