Survival is not success for state-owned enterprises – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has warned boards and management of Ghana’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that survival can no longer be treated as success, demanding stronger performance, tighter financial discipline and greater accountability across the public enterprise sector. Speaking at the SIGA Governing Boards and CEOs’ Conference 2026, President Mahama said five state-owned enterprises had recorded losses in every year from 2021 to 2025, while other state entities recorded an aggregate deficit of about $10. 48 billion in 2025, up from $2. 40 billion the previous year. He said the financial position of some entities was particularly concerning, with aggregate liabilities of other state entities exceeding their net assets by more than $41 billion. The President said the figures demonstrated the need to move beyond isolated successes and pursue system-wide improvement.

President Mahama stressed that state enterprises were established either to undertake activities of strategic national importance or to address areas where the private market could not adequately meet the public interest. Commercial entities, he said, must therefore be efficient, competitive and financially sustainable while generating appropriate returns on public investment. Entities with public service mandates, meanwhile, must deliver measurable social and economic value through reliable services, effective regulation, protection of public assets and improved outcomes for citizens. He said the true measure of performance was not whether an institution was busy, visible or able to pay salaries, but whether its work created tangible benefits for ordinary Ghanaians. “A farmer, trader, worker, entrepreneur, or student” should be able to experience the value created by a public institution, he said.…