‘Sowing the Seed:’ The Museba Project’s Ambitious Investigative Journalism in Central Africa

In September 2018, the veteran Cameroonian investigative journalist Christian Locka met Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos in London. They were both attending a training course on investigating illicit financial flows, held at City, University of London in Islington, just north of the Square Mile — the capital’s historic financial district.

Ronderos told Locka about a project she was setting up with friends and colleagues — a news organization focused on cross-border and collaborative investigations in Latin America, known as El CLIP, which went on to launch the following year, initially as a trio of seasoned journalists from Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica.

The meeting proved to be fateful — as an inspiration for Locka’s own ambitions and because he and Ronderos would later collaborate on cross-border investigations.

“At that time, I was looking everywhere in Cameroon or in Central Africa, and there were not enough journalists interested in investigations,” Locka remembers. “[Yet] it’s one of the regions where you find scandals, organized crime, corruption, and human rights abuses.”

‘Rich Media Landscape’

In the Central African sub-region, journalists regularly work under threat. Many have been killed, harassed, jailed, or forced into exile. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Cameroon 130th out of 180 in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index; in its report, RSF noted that although Cameroon has one of the “richest media landscapes” in Africa — with more than 600 newspapers, around 200 radio stations, and more than 60 television channels — it is also one of the continent’s most dangerous countries for journalists. Three journalists were killed in Cameroon in 2023.

Cameroon ranked 130th worldwide, and lower than all its Central African neighbors, in Reporters Without Borders 2024 Press Freedom Index. Image: Screenshot, RSF

One notorious case was the assassination of Arsène Salomon Mbani Zogo. On January 22, 2023, the mutilated body of the popular 50-year-old radio host, known as ”Martinez Zogo,” was found in a neighborhood near Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital. He had also been tortured. Before his death, he had denounced government corruption. More than 15 suspects have since been arrested; among them are several members of Cameroon’s intelligence agency and a prominent businessman.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “attacks on the press have escalated as Cameroon prepares for elections in 2025 that could see [Paul] Biya — one of the world’s longest-serving presidents — win another seven-year term.” Six Cameroonian journalists are currently in detention.

Double Mission

After his London trip, Christian Locka was convinced that building a landscape of trained investigative journalists working together throughout the region could help protect them. He started sharing his idea with colleagues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic who were interested in investigative journalism. In both countries, the press freedom situation is similarly difficult: journalists are regularly targeted by the government, armed groups, and wealthy businessmen.

In 2020, Locka launched The Museba Project as part of the MUSEBA Journalism Project — a nonprofit media organization that promotes investigative journalism in Central Africa and the Great Lakes, bringing together freelance journalists from the region. The MUSEBA Journalism Project has been a member of GIJN since 2021. (Museba is the word for “trumpet” in one of Cameroon’s coastal languages.)

Since the beginning, The Museba Project has had a double mission — first to train journalists, and then, after that, to encourage them to work together. “In this environment, the most important thing is not to start doing investigations,” says Locka, because “there is fear and lack of self-confidence.”

Before each training session, the team identifies journalists interested in investigative reporting by contacting editors or managers of media outlets in host countries. Above all, the organization asks each journalist to prepare at least two story ideas that they will review together — to push them to familiarize themselves with the practice.

During the training, the trainers with different backgrounds and from all over the world (Africans, Cameroonians, Americans, Europeans), share their knowledge and experiences with the journalists. They start from scratch, teaching them the basics of investigative journalism, such as how to protect themselves or their sources. The trainees also learn how to find stories, pitch them, and write an investigation.

“It’s been an enriching experience on every level, especially in terms of how to design an investigation to tell a good story,” says Saïbe Kabila, a Congolese investigative journalist who joined The Museba Project in June 2024, after a training season in Lubumbashi, the second largest city in the DRC.

“In my opinion, this media outlet is unique. It offers rigorous investigative journalism that tells the truth, often hidden in our regions, through interesting and captivating stories,” Kabila adds.

In four years, MUSEBA has trained more than 100 journalists from Cameroon, the DRC, and Central African Republic. After each training, the journalist attendees can apply to join the project.

International Collaboration

The Museba Project’s most valuable advantage involves facilitating networks between journalists. “We show journalists that by collaborating, they gain time, have more protection, spend less money, and do more research,” Locka explains. “It didn’t exist before. It’s our biggest asset.”

The newsroom has already been a part of international and national collaborative projects with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and El CLIP. In 2020, The Museba Project contributed to Migrants from Another World, a cross-border investigation focusing on African and Asian people who, expelled from their countries, make the painful and dangerous journey across Latin America to reach the United States. The project brought together 18 media organizations in 14 different countries — including the OCCRP, El CLIP, and Bellingcat. The Museba Project told the story of the Cameroonians who died on this journey.

The Museba Project’s investigation into a lead-acid battery recycling plant and its health impact on nearby communities was nominated for a 2024 Online Journalism Award. Image: Screenshot, Online Journalism Awards

In 2023, The Museba Project worked with The Examination, a US-based nonprofit newsroom (and new GIJN member) to uncover how the recycling of lead batteries by Indian companies is destroying the health of local populations in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. The investigation was nominated for a 2024 Online Journalism Award in the Excellence in Social Justice Reporting category.

For Will Fitzgibbon, senior reporter and partnership coordinator at The Examination, who has worked with the newsroom as a partner and a trainer, The Museba project “is trying to create something new that doesn’t exist, and in a political and economic landscape that is a challenge.”

“It is vital to have something like the Museba Project that can act as a source and unifying factor for investigative reporting in the region, encouraging and training not only Cameroonian reporters but those from Chad, Congo, and other countries where freedom of the press is a challenge,” he explains.

‘Wall of Insecurity’

One of The Museba Project’s biggest challenges is fear among journalists in the region. Due to the kidnapping, assassination, imprisonment, or harassment of their colleagues, many choose not to pursue investigative journalism. Several trained journalists have abandoned the field.

“We meet more and more journalists who desist,” Locka observes. “It’s a difficulty because these are talented young people who really want things to change, but they are facing a wall of insecurity.”

Those who keep going also face a lot of risks. Many Museba journalists have been harassed and one from DRC was forced into exile in Canada.

When he worked on his investigation How Rosewood is Stolen in Cameroon, Laundered in Nigeria, and Exported to China, Locka received various threats and even calls from one of Nigeria’s most notorious traffickers. After the investigation was published, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (known as “CITES”) suspended the trade of this species in Cameroon. Two years later, the government opened an investigation into rosewood trafficking between the two countries.

“The work of a good investigative journalist is to restore the truth,” says Fiacre Salabé, bureau chief for The Museba Project in the Central African Republic. Since he joined the organization in 2021, he has published stories about Chinese companies and forestry royalties. After publishing a story about a minister involved in corruption, he faced physical violence and persecution and received death threats. “I left the country to Cameroon for two years, between 2022 and 2024. Just long enough for the threat to drop a bit,” Salabé recalls.

Young Organization

Journalist safety, and the perennial problem of access to sources, are not the only obstacles to Museba’s development. Like many newsrooms around the world, the organization is struggling with funding. At the beginning, journalists used their personal funds to finance their work.

Over the years, the project has received grants from foundations and other organizations, such as the European Journalism Fund and the Pulitzer Center. In some cases, NGOs have approached The Museba Project to provide training for journalists.

However, the media company is currently at a crossroads — it’s hoping to diversify its revenue streams to become financially independent. According to Locka, it is planning, for example, to produce documentaries to sell in the future. “As a young organization, we need support. Those who want to support us can approach us,” he says.

“At a time when influencers and other whistleblowers have monopolized hot news, the country now needs journalism that gives itself time to investigate,” explains Professor Thomas Atenga, who teaches in the communications department at Cameroon’s University of Douala. “The Museba Project is an initiative to be encouraged.”

For Locka, despite these financial difficulties, one of The Museba Project’s ambitions is to train an army of investigative journalists who will be able to investigate corruption, human rights violations, illicit finance flows, and more.

The aim is not to get as many journalists as possible to join the news outlet, he says, but to promote investigative journalism, its fundamentals and techniques, and to make as many people as possible aware of the importance of the field, which is not yet very developed in the region.

“If you’ve got more investigative journalists in five or 10 years, it’s going to be hard to silence all those voices,” Locka explains. “We’re aware of the danger, but we’re doing it because it’s a choice and we’re taking the precautions we can. The most important thing is that we have sown the seed of investigation.”

Josiane Kouagheu is an award-winning investigative journalist and writer from Cameroon.