Dr. Lyla Latif, a global lawyer and lecturer at the University of Nairobi has urged African journalists to look beyond revenue collection when reporting on taxation, arguing that tax justice encompasses issues such as language, illicit financial flows, artificial intelligence, data governance and the global financial system.
Speaking on Monday at the opening of the International Tax Justice Academy (ITJA) Intermediate Course in Nairobi, Dr. Latif challenged participants to critically examine the concepts and narratives that shape taxation debates across Africa.
She stressed that language plays a central role in how taxation issues are understood and addressed, encouraging journalists to question the origins of commonly used terms and the assumptions behind them.
“As you go through your training and your interaction with each other, always ask yourself the questions when you come to tax justice and other elements of taxation as to who wrote the words that you are using when you are going to be talking about different elements of taxation,” she said.
According to Dr. Latif, taxation should not be viewed solely as a mechanism for collecting revenue but also as a tool for redistributing public resources to finance essential services such as education, healthcare and infrastructure.
She noted that while governments often emphasize domestic resource mobilization, journalists should also pay attention to the ways money leaves the continent through legal and policy frameworks.
“A lot of money leaves Africa lawfully because of the design of a structure that was designed by external actors, not really ourselves,” she said.
She further questioned the prevailing narratives around illicit financial flows, urging participants to consider African realities when examining financial practices. Using the example of the Hawala money transfer system, she said some informal financial arrangements continue to play an important role in economies where access to formal banking services remains limited.
The lecturer further highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence in tax administration, warning that algorithms used to identify taxpayers or determine audits may reflect the biases of those who designed them.
“If an algorithm now decides who is audited and who stays invisible, who taught it what fairness looks like," she quizzed.
She called for the attention of the economic value of data, stressing that countries should consider how digital platforms generate wealth from users while often paying limited taxes in the jurisdictions where that value is created.
She challenged journalists to interrogate tax policies, financial structures and emerging technologies, emphasizing that critical reporting is essential to advancing tax justice on the continent.
The ITJA Intermediate Course is a capacity-building programme for African journalists and civil society actors engaged in tax justice reporting and advocacy. This year’s course combined investigative journalism, tax policy analysis, and sessions exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on tax systems. The training was delivered in two phases, with virtual sessions held from 26 May to 4 June 2026, followed by in-person sessions in Nairobi from 15 to 19 June.
