Rescuing Ghana’s Ailing SOEs: IMANI Lays Out Detailed Blueprint for Action

Policy think tank IMANI Africa has offered a practical rescue plan for Ghana’s struggling State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which have become a burden on the government’s finances.

Many SOEs, although holding a significant portion of the country’s resources, are far from being viable and profitable. These SOEs have been incurring losses annually despite the huge sums of money pumped into them.

For instance, in the recent 9th Ghana Economic Update published by the World Bank Group, SOEs such as Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Cocoa Board were named as posing a significant threat to the country’s fiscal health.

Given the severity of the situation, IMANI warns that unless bold action is taken immediately, some of the country’s most vital service providers could collapse.

The latest Criticality Analysis cited by The High Street Journal singles out the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) as case studies of deep, persistent financial haemorrhage.

IMANI says the fix must be practical, sequenced, and backed by accountability, starting with “stopping the bleeding” before chasing growth.

Stop the Bleeding First

For GWCL, IMANI calls for an urgent, highly visible programme in high-loss districts: rapid installation of meters, swift replacement of the worst burst mains, and a targeted enforcement drive to shut down illegal connections.

 The think tank fears that if the GWCL continues to lose half its water, the inevitable collapse is only a matter of time.

“Fixing this must be practical, and it must be sequenced. First, stop the bleeding. Close the leak before funding growth. For GWL, that means an immediate, visible programme in high-loss districts: rapid metering and replacement of the worst burst mains, a focused enforcement drive to seal illegal connections,” IMANI remarked.

For CPC, the think tank urges a cash-preservation plan that focuses on production lines with the quickest margin recovery, short-term creditor forbearance. There is a call for an immediate freeze on all nonessential spending, while management produces a verifiable turnaround strategy.

IMANI said, “first act must be a cash-preservation plan that prioritises the production lines with the quickest margin recovery, negotiates short-term creditor forbearance, and freezes nonessential spend while management lays out a verifiable turnaround plan.”

Support with Strings Attached

If the state steps in with liquidity injections or guarantees, such as the proposed Afreximbank facility, IMANI insists the support must come with publicly trackable performance indicators (KPIs).

Conditional support, the report argues, will protect Ghana’s already strained public finances and force managerial accountability.

IMANI calls on the government to “make any financial support conditional and measurable. If the state underwrites liquidity or guarantees new debt, such as the proposed Afreximbank facility, those concessions must be tied to public KPIs. Conditional support protects the fiscal anchor and forces managerial accountability.”

Technical Fixes and Private Partnerships

IMANI also recommends modernising operations through metering, digital billing, and mobile payments to plug revenue leakages.  

Piloting of public-private partnerships or management contracts for specific distribution zones is being recommended by IMANI to inject operational discipline.

“Combine technical fixes with smart private engagement. Metering, digital billing, and mobile payments remove easy leakages from the system. Piloted PPPs or management contracts for distribution zones can deliver operational discipline quickly,” the analysis added.

The Bottom Line

Persistent leakages, IMANI says, make SOEs “quietly insolvent long before the balance sheet shows collapse.

Without immediate, disciplined intervention, the failure of GWCL or CPC would not be sudden; it would simply be the final act of a long, visible decline.

Read More