In September 2026, it took me more than twelve hours to travel the 266 kilometres from Nkroful to Kumasi through the important mining towns of Tarkwa, Bogosu, Dunkwa-on-Offin, Ayanfuri and Obuasi. In 2025, I compared Accra–Kumasi trips of at least six hours with a three-hour journey from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro over a similar distance. These were individual journeys, but they raise a question for every producer who depends on a road. How much of a working day can you afford to lose getting goods to market?

The World Bank reported that Ghana’s economy grew by 6 per cent in 2025, yet only 13 per cent of workers aged 15 to 64 held formal wage or high-skilled jobs in 2023, down from 15 per cent in 2012. Better infrastructure can help farms and firms turn growth into more productive jobs.

Roads and electricity networks show why public ownership matters to productivity and welfare. They serve households and businesses across whole regions, including places where the commercial return alone may be too low to justify investment. Government must define what the public should receive from these assets, fund those obligations openly and give Parliament and citizens the information they need to hold operators to account.

What citizens should get from public ownership?

Public ownership makes sense where duplicating a network would be wasteful or where essential services would otherwise be undersupplied. An electricity transmission grid is a case in point. For households and firms, the benefits should be visible in wider access, fewer outages and reliable service at a sustainable cost. Utilities should publish these results alongside audited accounts and disclose the cost and funding of any subsidised service. That lets Parliament distinguish the cost of a public obligation from losses caused by poor management.

The 2026 Budget proposed a 1,200-megawatt state-owned thermal plant. Before committing public funds, government should compare its lifetime cost and expected reliability with rehabilitating existing plants and procuring power from other sources. It should disclose any guarantees taxpayers may have to honour. The same accountability should apply to support for private firms. Publish the beneficiaries, the cost and the expected gains in output and sustained jobs.

What the CRC proposed and what government decided

The Constitution Review Committee proposed amending Chapter 14 to give the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) constitutional status and make it accountable to Parliament for its independent oversight of state enterprises and state-controlled joint ventures. It proposed merit-based board appointments, barring ministers, deputy ministers and MPs from boards and management, and giving properly constituted boards authority to appoint, supervise and remove chief executives and senior managers. It also proposed public disclosure of audited annual accounts, with sanctions for failures to comply.

In its July 2026 position paper, the government rejected constitutional status for SIGA. It argued that Parliament already has the power to establish and regulate such bodies and that no institutional vulnerability had been demonstrated to justify elevation. On the proposed rules to depoliticise enterprise governance, the government favoured legislation so appointment procedures, governance standards and directors’ duties could be updated as needed.

I would put SIGA’s independence and duty to report to Parliament and the public in the Constitution, with fixed terms for its leaders and removal on defined grounds after a fair process. Legislation can specify how vacancies are advertised, candidates assessed and directors held to their duties. Government should set ownership policy, boards should run enterprises through their executives, and SIGA should independently assess what they deliver.

At SIGA’s September 2026 conference, President Mahama reported that only 61 entities in the wider state portfolio submitted audited accounts by the statutory deadline, and only 72 of 148 chief executives signed performance contracts. SIGA should publish an enterprise-by-enterprise record of missed deadlines, verified results and corrective action. Parliament should call boards to explain repeated failures, including what they mean for the people who rely on their services.

Clear the road bottlenecks that hold back production

Unfinished works, damaged surfaces and stranded trucks on major highways make journey times unpredictable. A truck that spends the day in traffic completes fewer trips. A processor may miss a shipment or tie up cash holding extra stock, and perishable goods can lose value before reaching market. Government should prioritise repairs and completion of works by the delays they impose on entire freight corridors and publish journey times and their variability.

Ghana suspended a mandatory towing levy in 2017 after objections to the fee and contracting arrangements. A pay-after-towing approach was subsequently announced. The National Road Safety Authority told the Daily Graphic it planned to start a new system in January 2027 based on private towing subscriptions or insurance cover. On major routes such as the N1 and N5, recovery vehicles should be stationed near known bottlenecks. Dispatch should begin when a hazard is reported, billing disputes should be settled after the lane is clear, and the authority should publish actual clearance times against its standards.

Make heavy freight pay its share

Ghana should calculate the cost of routine maintenance and resurfacing, then set heavy-vehicle tolls by axle class and corridor use. Côte d’Ivoire published a CFA 5,000 charge for vehicles with three or more axles at Attinguié and Singrobo in February 2025. Togo announced CFA 2,800 for trucks with three to five axles from July 2026. These are charges per toll point. Compare the total charge for equivalent port-to-border journeys before setting rates.

Parliament authorised an electronic tolling concession in July 2026. Government should publish the tariffs, collection costs, the state’s share and how much maintenance the proceeds will fund. Underpricing heavy road use can leave taxpayers covering part of the cost of transit freight from the Sahel. The same rates and axle-load limits should be applied to comparable domestic and foreign trucks, while accounting for existing road-user charges and showing which repairs the tolls pay for.

Connect farms to markets and protect investment

My earlier research documented the limits imposed by dependence on rainfall, limited technology and weak investment. Farmer Service Centres should coordinate machinery hire with irrigation, storage and buyers in the same production areas, publish their charges and booking rules, and assess results after two crop seasons. Resolve competing land claims before investing, with customary authorities, tenants and other users involved.

Producers also need independent courts that enforce contracts. A processor waiting to recover a debt may run out of cash to buy the next crop. Commercial and land courts should pilot early case conferences, record reasons for adjournments, and publish the time cases take to reach judgment and enforcement.

Graphic Online reported that during the 2026 Kwahu Easter Business Forum, President Mahama said he resisted pressure to exclude capable firms perceived to be close to the opposition. The IMF’s Ghana Governance Diagnostic warns that cancelling contracts or leaving them unpaid after elections can generate costly claims. Incoming governments should review inherited contracts against legality, performance and value for money, publish reasons for cancellation and assess potential judgment debts before acting. Firms are more likely to buy equipment and train workers when contracts can survive a change of government.

The way forward for a productive economy

Ghana can turn its abundant resources into better jobs by making roads and power reliable and contracts enforceable. Public ownership should widen access to essential services and show citizens what their money buys.

Start where freight delays cost producers most. Finish critical works, deploy recovery crews and publish journey times and toll-funded repairs. Protect SIGA’s independence and have Parliament scrutinise audited accounts and service results. Link farm support to buyers, speed up contract enforcement and apply published criteria to inherited contracts. Measure progress in service reliability, output and jobs.