President John Dramani Mahama has challenged boards and chief executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to ensure that public ownership translates into tangible value for Ghanaians.
He said institutions managing state assets must be able to demonstrate, with credible evidence, the value they create for the Ghanaian people, stressing that public assets belong to citizens and not to governments, boards or chief executives.
“Public ownership must produce public value,” President Mahama said at the SIGA Governing Boards and CEOs’ Conference 2026 on Thursday, September 10.
According to him, the ports, power infrastructure, factories, water systems, pensions, lands, buildings, equipment and shares held by the state constitute an enormous share of what Ghana owns.
“These assets do not belong to any government, a board, or a chief executive. They belong to the people of Ghana, and you and I hold them only in trust for the people,” he said.
President Mahama said every institution represented at the conference must therefore be able to show measurable results from the resources and assets entrusted to it.
He said the key measure of success for state institutions should not simply be whether they remain operational, pay salaries or meet routine obligations, but whether they create value that ordinary Ghanaians can experience.
“The test is therefore not whether an institution is busy, is visible, or able to meet its payroll. The test is whether it creates value that a farmer, trader, worker, entrepreneur, or student can experience,” he said.
The President said this standard must apply not only to commercial state-owned enterprises but also to regulators, commissions, statutory authorities and public funds.
He warned that public ownership could no longer be used to justify slow service delivery, weak productivity or poor accountability.
President Mahama said boards and management would be assessed against clear financial, operational, governance and development targets, with corrective action and, where necessary, leadership changes triggered by persistent poor performance.
The President’s comments come as Ghana’s state-owned enterprises recorded a significant improvement in their aggregate financial performance in 2025.
The State Ownership Report showed that combined revenue increased from $137.71 billion in 2024 to $176.43 billion in 2025, while the sector moved from an aggregate net loss of $2.26 billion to a net profit of $19.8 billion.
However, President Mahama cautioned that the improvement must translate into sustained operational efficiency and stronger underlying performance.
He noted that five state-owned enterprises recorded losses in every year between 2021 and 2025, while other state entities recorded an aggregate deficit of approximately $10.48 billion in 2025.
He therefore called for a shift from isolated successes to system-wide improvements in profitability, service quality, governance, operational efficiency and returns on public investment.
President Mahama further insisted that profitable state-owned enterprises must meet their dividend obligations, saying returns on public investment ultimately belong to the people of Ghana.
He also warned management and boards against using public enterprise profits to finance what he described as the “creature comforts” of executives and board members.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Mavis Fantevi
