Abstract
The West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) has emerged as a driving force in shaping the region’s fiscal future. Since 2011, it has brought tax leaders and partners together through annual High-Level Policy Dialogues and General Assemblies to tackle shared challenges and push reforms. This year, the road leads to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where the 7th Dialogue and 21st Assembly will converge in what is set to be one of WATAF’s most consequential gatherings. In this article, I trace WATAF’s journey from its first Dialogue in Bijilo, The Gambia, in 2019, to today’s efforts at building fairer, more transparent, and more cooperative tax systems. I also spotlight Sierra Leone’s transformation story and why its role as host carries both symbolic and strategic weight. Above all, I show how WATAF is redefining taxation in West Africa—not just as revenue, but as a lever for development and shared destiny.
Introduction
West Africa’s tax administrators and policy leaders, along with partners from across the continent and beyond, are preparing to gather in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for one of the region’s most consequential fiscal conversations. From September 15 to 19, 2025, WATAF will host its 7th High-Level Policy Dialogue alongside its 21st General Assembly—a combined event expected to chart new directions for domestic revenue mobilization, regional cooperation, and tax policy reforms. The gathering comes at a critical time. Governments across West Africa are under pressure to expand tax bases, reduce reliance on foreign aid, and finance ambitious development agendas.
WATAF: A Platform for Collective Progress
Established in 2011 to foster collaboration among the region’s tax authorities, WATAF has grown into a formidable platform for sharing knowledge, harmonizing practices, and addressing challenges such as illicit financial flows and digital taxation. Its assemblies and dialogues are more than routine meetings—they are innovation labs where member countries exchange ideas to make revenue systems more robust, transparent, and aligned with regional development goals.
The significance of this year’s Dialogue and Assembly lies in its timing. With global debates on tax justice intensifying and regional economies still recovering from the pandemic, WATAF’s convening power could not be more critical. The conversations in Freetown will not only be about revenue numbers. They will be about charting a collective path that strengthens state capacity, harnesses West Africa’s resources, and ensures sustainable growth for generations to come. As Sierra Leone’s Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Jeneba J. Bangura, emphasizes: “A unified regional approach to revenue mobilization reduces barriers, enhances compliance, and builds trust among member states.”
Building on Past Commitments
The most recent High-Level Policy Dialogue, held in Guinea-Bissau in September 2024, produced concrete commitments. Members pledged to dismantle silos, share knowledge across borders, and adopt a unified framework aligning tax policies with citizens’ needs and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. WATAF hailed the outcome as “a stronger sense of collective purpose and recognition that sustainable development in West Africa relies on tax systems that are efficient, transparent, and trusted by the people.”
That sense of shared responsibility sets the stage for Freetown, where, as Bangura noted, “By aligning our tax policies and systems regionally, we create a seamless environment that encourages trade, investment, and fair revenue collection.”
The Road from Bijilo to Freetown
Since 2019, WATAF’s annual Dialogues and Assemblies have provided a steady platform for reflection, innovation, and strategy. The journey began in Bijilo, The Gambia, where the focus was on “Setting the Agenda for Effective Domestic Revenue Mobilization.” That inaugural meeting laid the foundation for deeper conversations across the years.
In 2020, the world was struck by the pandemic, and WATAF adapted by holding its Dialogue virtually, concentrating on the urgent need to promote transparency in tax incentives. By 2021, the conversation had shifted to Abuja, Nigeria, where delegates explored the vast but largely untapped opportunities within the digital economy. The momentum carried into 2022 in Cotonou, Benin, where the emphasis was on strengthening leadership and corporate governance as a backbone for resilient tax systems. A year later, in the island city of Praïa, Cabo Verde, the Forum placed transparency and cooperation at the center of its agenda, underscoring the importance of openness in building trust between governments and citizens. Then came Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, in 2024, where participants examined how improving tax systems could directly drive economic growth and social development. Each of these milestones tells a chapter of WATAF’s evolving story—a story that has consistently gone beyond revenue collection to embrace innovation, regional cooperation, and sustainable growth.
Now, as the Forum heads to Freetown with the theme “Financing Development Through Effective Tax Systems,” the narrative takes on sharper focus. The Dialogue is no longer simply about improving tax practices; it is about anchoring domestic resource mobilization as the very engine of Africa’s sustainable development aspirations.
Sierra Leone at the Center
Beyond WATAF’s regional journey, Sierra Leone’s story adds a symbolic layer to the Freetown gathering. Once scarred by war, the country has steadily positioned itself as a beacon of reform and resilience. Its National Revenue Authority (NRA) has pioneered innovations like e-filing and mobile tax payments—measures that make compliance simpler, fairer, and more transparent.
Commissioner General Jeneba J. Bangura captured this spirit succinctly in 2024 at and ATAF event that the NRA raised the revenue-to-GDP ratio from 12.3% in 2017 to around 15.6% in 2021 — an increase of about 3.4 percentage points over four years. This trajectory, along with others, underscores why Sierra Leone is not only hosting but also showcasing reforms that inspire peers across the region.
Confident of hosting the event, Commissioner General Bangura asserts: “We are committed to delivering a world class event, one that promotes knowledge sharing, inspires reforms and strengthens partnerships.” By extending hospitality and sharing lessons, Sierra Leone is positioning the event as both a celebration of progress and an opportunity to co-create solutions for West Africa’s fiscal future.
Why the Dialogue Matters
The urgency is clear. Africa loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually (about 3.7% of GDP) through illicit financial flows, according to the ECOWAS Commission. Such losses cripple domestic resource mobilization, deepen dependence on external aid, and weaken governance. With ministries of finance, tax authorities, parliaments, corporations, CSOs, academia, and global partners like the World Bank, UNDP, OECD, and AfDB all represented, the Freetown Dialogue offers a rare, inclusive space for multi-stakeholder engagement. Its aim: to design tax systems that are fair, predictable, and supportive of private sector-led growth.
As Mrs. Talato Eliane Djiguemdé, Chair of the WATAF Council, put it: “It is through synergy that we will succeed in shaping innovative tax systems that strengthen every West African community.”
The five-day Dialogue will feature four interactive panels tackling themes from regional cooperation to global tax justice, blending research with real-world dialogue. Experts will examine policy coherence, private sector engagement, global tax challenges, and the leadership needed to drive reform. The Dialogue will conclude with an Outcome Statement summarizing lessons and commitments for action.
What It Means for West Africa
The Freetown Dialogue follows directly on the heels of the 2024 Bissau Dialogue, which reaffirmed that tax systems, when well-designed and ethically managed, can drive both economic growth and governance stability. The upcoming Dialogue builds on that momentum but sharpens focus on DRM as the financing engine of sustainable development. The stakes are high. With economies reeling from global shocks, climate pressures, and fiscal strains, the need for reliable domestic resources has never been more urgent. Effective tax systems—transparent, fair, and inclusive—remain the surest lifeline for financing education, healthcare, infrastructure, and innovation.
As WATAF Executive Secretary Jules Tapsoba reminded participants: “This Dialogue is not just about taxation—it is about development, dignity, and destiny. By strengthening our tax systems, we are strengthening the future of West Africa.” And, tellingly, this is a wake-up call that must resonate all the way down the road from Bijilo to Freetown.
Conclusion
The road from Bijilo to Freetown tells a story of steady progress, deepening cooperation, and bold ambition. Each of the previous six Dialogue has redefined what taxation means for the region—not merely revenue collection, but a foundation for development, accountability, and sovereignty. As WATAF gathers in Freetown, the question of how it is defining West Africa’s tax future finds its answer in action: by building tax systems that are fair, inclusive, and trusted; by mobilizing resources to meet urgent social and economic needs; and by proving that when West Africa speaks with one fiscal voice, it can shape its destiny. If the commitments made in Freetown translate into real reforms, this gathering will mark more than another milestone; it will be remembered as the moment West Africa turned taxation into a shared engine of dignity, development, and destiny.
