News Guide Africa

Category: Features

  • “The Year of Fiscal Resilience”: Energy Commission Overcomes Administrative Hurdles to Secure Future

    “The Year of Fiscal Resilience”: Energy Commission Overcomes Administrative Hurdles to Secure Future

    By Adnan Adams Mohammed; Finance and Economic Journalist

    Behind the technical data and statutory language of the newly released 2025 Annual Report lies a story of institutional grit. Ghana’s Energy Commission has not only survived a year of “governance and resource constraints” but has emerged as a financial heavyweight, reporting a massive surge in its accumulated fund.

    The report reveals that the Commission’s total revenue grew by 53%, reaching GH₵238.89 million, while the overall accumulated fund the bedrock of its long-term financial security hit a record GH₵329.23 million.

    Strategic Pivots in a Challenging Year

    The 2025 fiscal year was far from smooth. In a refreshingly candid executive summary, the Commission acknowledged that administrative delays, including the late constitution of its Governing Board, created a high-pressure environment for staff and management.

    Acting Executive Secretary Adwoa Serwaa Bondzie noted that the year’s success was the result of a deliberate “prioritization” strategy.

    “Management responded by prioritising critical activities, applying available resources to sustain delivery, and putting in place interim arrangements to maintain the integrity of regulatory decisions,” Bondzie explained.

    The Stats Behind the Surge

    While the Commission faced internal staffing gaps, its technical divisions were working at an accelerated pace. The report highlights a robust period for the renewable energy sector, which is increasingly becoming the jewel in the Commission’s crown.

    ● 120 Renewable energy license applications received.

    ● 100 Site inspections conducted by technical teams.

    ● 62 Licenses officially issued to energy providers.

    Professor John Gartchie Gatsi, Chairman of the Governing Board, pointed to the Commission’s focus on data-driven planning as the secret to its resilience.

    “The publication of the Energy Outlook and Statistics and the operationalisation of the Ghana Energy Database System strengthened the basis for planning and regulatory decision-making,” Prof. Gatsi stated, noting that these tools allowed the Commission to stay ahead of market shifts.

    2025 BY THE NUMBERS

    ● Surplus Jump: from GH₵53.6M (2024) to GH₵114.2M (2025)

    ● Fund Growth: from GH₵214.8M (2024) to GH₵329.2M (2025)

    ● Technical Wins: Reconstitution of the Electrical Wiring Management Committee (EMOP) and successful enforcement of appliance efficiency standards.

    A Clean Bill of Health from Auditors

    Confidence in the Commission’s massive revenue growth was bolstered by an independent audit conducted by CFL Global Partners. The auditors issued an “unqualified” opinion, confirming that the Commission’s financial statements present a “true and fair view” of its financial position.

    The auditors confirmed that:

    “The Commission has kept proper books of account… and the Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Financial Performance are in agreement with the books of account.”

    Setting the Stage for 2026

    With a strong balance sheet and its administrative house now in order, the Commission is entering 2026 with an aggressive agenda. The focus is shifting toward “scaling up” energy efficiency and professionalizing the workforce to meet the demands of a modernizing grid.

    As Prof. Gatsi concluded in his address: “Attention was given to the frameworks required to support orderly sector administration,” signaling that the Commission is now ready to transition from a period of stabilization to one of rapid expansion.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Power Conundrum: Leadership and investment gaps fuelling Ghana’s power crisis

    The Power Conundrum: Leadership and investment gaps fuelling Ghana’s power crisis

    By Adnan Adams Mohammed

    Ghana’s energy landscape is currently caught in a volatile tug-of-war between aging infrastructure and a surge in demand.

    As recent technical failures, including a major fire at the Akosombo switchyard, have dominated headlines, energy experts warn that the real crisis lies deeper: in a “trifecta” of poor planning, communication breakdowns, and a massive investment deficit.

    A crisis of leadership and logic

    The recurring nature of the country’s power outages, popularly known as dumsor, has drawn sharp criticism from policy analysts.

    Benjamin Nsiah, an energy sector commentator, argues that the current instability is not merely technical but a failure of governance.

    “The energy sector is currently facing significant planning, communication, and leadership challenges,” Nsiah stated. He pointed out that the lack of a transparent, published load-shedding timetable has left businesses and households in the dark, both literally and figuratively. “Without clear communication and a proactive leadership approach, the sector will continue to react to crises rather than prevent them.”

    The billion-dollar investment gap

    While leadership is under fire, others point to the cold, hard reality of economics. Michael Aidoo, a prominent energy consultant, highlighted that the grid’s frailty is a direct result of years of underfunding.

    “The recurring power issues we are seeing today are tied inextricably to massive investment gaps,” Aidoo explained. He noted that as the population grows and industrialization efforts expand, the existing transmission lines and transformers are being pushed past their breaking points. “We are operating a 21st-century economy on a 20th-century backbone. Until we bridge the financing gap for infrastructure upgrades, these outages will persist.”

    Akosombo fire: A wake-up call

    The vulnerability of the system was laid bare recently when a fire broke out at the Akosombo switchyard, a critical node in the nation’s hydroelectric heart. The incident caused widespread blackouts, forcing the government into a defensive posture.

    In response, the Ministry of Energy announced an emergency “system upgrade” to modernize the switchyard and surrounding infrastructure. “The government is moving swiftly to upgrade the power system following the Akosombo switchyard fire,” a ministry spokesperson confirmed. Officials stated that the upgrade is intended to build redundancy into the grid so that a single failure at one plant does not trigger a national collapse.

    The frontlines: Afram Plains and regional stability

    Despite the systemic gloom, there have been pockets of operational success. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) recently completed a high-stakes repair mission to restore power to the Afram Plains. The area had been plunged into darkness after a submarine cable—the lifeblood of the district’s power supply—was severely damaged.

    “Our technical teams worked around the clock in challenging marine conditions to restore the cable,” an ECG representative noted. The restoration was met with relief by local residents who had been without power for days, disrupting local trade and healthcare services.

    Karpowership: A stabilizing force?

    As the country seeks long-term solutions, independent power producers (IPPs) continue to play a pivotal role. In the Western Region, local leaders have expressed vocal support for Karpowership Ghana. During a recent facility visit, Western Regional Chiefs lauded the company for its consistent contribution to the national grid.

    “We appreciate the stability that Karpowership brings to our region and the country at large,” noted one of the traditional leaders. The chiefs emphasized that while the nation works on its permanent infrastructure, such strategic partnerships are essential to keeping the lights on for local industries.

    The path forward

    The consensus among stakeholders is that a “quick fix” is no longer an option. Between the technical restoration of submarine cables and the strategic praise for floating power plants, Ghana sits at a crossroads. Industry observers maintain that unless the government addresses the “leadership challenges” cited by Nsiah and the “investment gaps” flagged by Aidoo, the cycle of outages will continue to haunt the nation’s economic ambitions.

     

     

  • Pay Up, Ghana: Tax Compliance, the Informal Economy, and Why Journalists Are the Missing Tool

    Pay Up, Ghana: Tax Compliance, the Informal Economy, and Why Journalists Are the Missing Tool

    By The Kasoa Economist

     

    Only 1.2 million Ghanaians currently pay tax. The informal sector employs 80% of the workforce and contributes barely 30% of GDP. More than half of all VAT due is never collected. GRA collected GH₵ 33.7 billion in Q1 2026, which is a 20% increase that proves compliance can improve. But the Commissioner-General of the GRA has named what enforcement, technology, and legislation cannot fix on their own: communication. Ghana’s tax gap is, in substantial part, a journalism problem.

     

    Ask a seamstress in Kumasi whether she pays income tax and she will likely answer one of three things: that she did not know she was supposed to; that she tried once and the process defeated her; or that she paid a GRA officer who came to her shop, received no receipt, and assumed that was the end of it. Ask a mechanic in Sunyani whether he files a tax return and the most honest answer you will get is that he has never heard of the Modified Taxation Scheme, does not know what a TIN number is, and has not seen any reason to acquire one. These are not unusual answers. They are the norm. Ghana’s Ghana Revenue Authority has a taxpayer base of 1.2 million active payers in a country of more than 35 million people, a working population of perhaps 15 million, and an informal sector that employs eight in every ten workers. The arithmetic of that gap is not a mystery. It is a policy failure with a specific, addressable cause: most Ghanaians who are legally obligated to pay tax have never received a clear, credible, and locally relevant explanation of what they owe, why they owe it, and what it will be used for.

    On 20th November 2025, GRA Commissioner-General Anthony Kwasi Sarpong addressed editors and members of the GRA Press Corps in Accra. His message was direct and, for a tax authority commissioner, unusually candid about what his institution cannot do alone. The evolving tax environment. such as forthcoming amendments to the VAT Act, the Income Tax Act, and the Customs Act; the rollout of the Modified Taxation Scheme for the informal sector; the digital economy tax pilot capturing VAT on online purchases and crypto-asset gains, would only succeed, he said, if taxpayers fully understood what was being asked of them and why. “If we do not explain the reforms in simple terms and create the necessary awareness,” he said, “it becomes difficult for people to voluntarily comply.” He described journalists not as conduits for GRA press releases but as “an essential extension of the Authority’s sustained tax education campaign.” He appealed to them to serve as “ambassadors for tax education” in their reporting and daily interactions. That appeal was well-judged. It was also, if read carefully, an acknowledgement that Ghana’s tax compliance crisis is, in part, a communication failure of the first order.

    1.2m

    Active taxpayers out of 35m+ 19%

    Income tax compliance rate 50%+

    VAT gap — uncollected

    THE SCALE OF WHAT IS NOT BEING COLLECTED

    The compliance numbers are worth stating plainly because they have a tendency to be reported in isolation without the cumulative picture they form together. Only about 19% of Ghana’s taxpayer population pays income tax. Less than 30% of those registered for VAT comply with their VAT obligations. The informal sector accounts for roughly 80% of the country’s workforce but contributes only around 30% to GDP. This is a gap driven partly by the structural informality of small enterprise and partly by a compliance rate that the GRA’s own Area Director in Sunyani has put at approximately 30%, meaning 70% of informal sector workers are currently evading. GRA’s own estimate is that artisans alone (tailors, masons, mechanics, electricians, plumbers) would generate GH₵ 800 million annually if they met their obligations under existing law. The Modified Taxation Scheme targets GH₵10 billion in additional revenue from the informal sector as a whole. Ghana’s 2026 GRA revenue target is GH₵ 225–230 billion, roughly GH₵ 50 billion more than was collected in 2025. Q1 2026 collected GH₵ 33.7 billion, 20% above the same period last year. This proofs that compliance can improve. The gap between what is being collected and what the law requires to be paid is not a rounding error. It is a structural wound in Ghana’s public finances that shows up, downstream, as unpaid NHIS claims, unbuilt roads, and school feeding arrears.

    Ghana’s tax-to-GDP ratio of 13.6% in 2025 is the most damning single statistic in this story. The sub-Saharan African average is approximately 17%. The OECD average is 34%. Ghana is a lower-middle-income economy with an ambitious development agenda, an IMF programme anchored on fiscal consolidation, and a public that expects roads, hospitals, schools, and social protection. The arithmetic of those expectations against a 13.6% revenue base does not work. It has never worked. Every fiscal crisis Ghana has experienced, from the 2022 debt distress, the 2014 IMF programme, the recurring NHIS reimbursement failures, to the GETFUND structural overreach into Free SHS recurrent costs, has its roots, in part, in the same place: a state that has promised more than its tax base can finance, because its tax base has been allowed to remain far below its potential for decades.

    TAX HEAD  COMPLIANCE REALITY   WHAT IT COSTS GHANA

    Income Tax  19%compliance rate   81% of income tax potential uncollected

    VAT   <30% compliance rate      More than 50% of VAT due is not collected

    Informal sector        80% of workforce              Only 30% contribution to GDP; 70% evade

    Artisans alone     Tailors, masons, mechanics, etc     GH₵ 800m annually if they met obligations

    Total taxpayer base   1.2 million active payers        Ghana population: 35 million+ (2026)

    Tax-to-GDP   13.6% (2025)   Sub-Saharan Africa average: 17%; OECD: 34%

    WHY PEOPLE DO NOT PAY: THE COMMUNICATION GAP

    The academic and policy literature on tax compliance in developing economies consistently identifies three proximate causes of non-payment: inability to pay, unwillingness to pay, and inability to comply even when willing. The third cause — what economists call compliance costs — is the one most relevant to Ghana’s informal sector and the one most directly addressable through communication. A 2026 policy forum hosted by the Centre for Policy Scrutiny heard from GRA Technical Advisor Elsie Appau-Klu that Ghana’s primary compliance challenge is not the absence of new taxes but the low compliance rates within the existing tax framework. The system, she argued, had historically been complex, intimidating, and opaque. This generates a rational non-compliance response from small businesses whose owners lacked the accounting capacity, legal literacy, and administrative bandwidth to navigate it. The Modified Taxation Scheme’s central design principle (a 3% flat rate on turnover for businesses earning up to GH₵ 500,000 annually) is a direct response to that diagnosis. Make compliance as simple as a mobile money transfer, and more people will comply.

    But simplifying the system and communicating that simplification are two different things. The GRA’s Sustained Tax Education programme, its 24-hour WhatsApp response system, its nationwide sensitisation forums, and its three-year national tax education strategy are all welcome investments. They reach, by the GRA’s own evidence, a fraction of the people they need to reach. A sensitisation forum in Sunyani that trains 40 artisans on the MTS platform is valuable. It covers roughly 0.003% of the informal sector workers who need that training. The GRA cannot run ten thousand sensitisation forums simultaneously. It does not have the staff, the budget, or the logistics. What it has is a media landscape of more than 400 licensed FM radio stations broadcasting in every major Ghanaian language, reaching into every district, every market, every trading community in the country every day. The question is whether those stations are using that reach to carry the message that needs to be carried.

    “Accountability comes with responsibility. When citizens contribute through taxes, they are better positioned to demand transparency and proper use of public funds.”

    — Elsie Appau-Klu, Technical Advisor, GRA Commissioner-General, April 2026

    WHAT TAX JOURNALISM IN GHANA CURRENTLY LOOKS LIKE

    Ghana has a rich tradition of political journalism and a growing investigative reporting sector. It has organisations like the Ghana Integrity Initiative, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, and investigative units within major newsrooms doing serious accountability work. What it does not have, in adequate depth or consistency, is a tradition of tax journalism, thus, reporting that treats the revenue side of public finance with the same rigour and public interest framing that it applies to the spending side. When a government contract is inflated, the story runs. When a politician steals public money, the story runs. When GH₵ 10 billion in tax revenue fails to materialise because 70% of the informal sector is non-compliant and the compliance infrastructure is understaffed and under-resourced, the story is rarely told, and when it is, it is rarely told in a way that connects the uncollected cedi to the unbuilt school.

    The structural reasons for this gap are not difficult to identify. Tax reporting is technically demanding: understanding the difference between VAT gap analysis and income tax compliance requires familiarity with fiscal policy concepts that most journalism programmes in Ghana do not teach. A third of Ghana’s media outlets are owned by politicians or persons with ties to political parties, and the content they produce is, by Reporters Without Borders’ own assessment, largely partisan and oriented toward political accountability rather than fiscal citizenship. Most journalists are underpaid and under-resourced, operating in newsrooms that cannot support the sustained, source-building, data-driven approach that effective fiscal reporting requires. And there is a specific inhibitor unique to tax journalism: the GRA is both the subject of the reporting and, through its press corps and media engagement programme, a primary source and funder of journalist training in the area. That relationship is not inherently corrupting, but it requires careful navigation that not all newsrooms are equipped to provide.

    The RSF Press Freedom Index notes a growing trend of self-censorship in Ghana’s media landscape, and journalists covering extractive industries ( the sector most directly linked to tax evasion at scale) face documented physical risks. Three environmental journalists were attacked in March 2025 while reporting on illegal mining in the Western Region. The investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale was murdered in 2019; six years later, the investigation has, by the President’s own acknowledgement, not been resolved. A journalism profession that operates under these conditions will rationally calibrate its risk appetite toward lower-stakes reporting. Tax compliance, presented as a civic responsibility story rather than a corruption story, sits in a safer space than investigative reporting on gold smuggling networks. However, it requires the same underlying fiscal literacy and the same willingness to pursue institutional sources that are sometimes reluctant to share unflattering compliance data.

    THE CASE FOR TAX JOURNALISM AS DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE

    The theoretical connection between public communication and tax compliance is well-established in the fiscal sociology literature. James Alm’s work on tax morale demonstrates that voluntary compliance is driven not primarily by the fear of detection but by the perceived fairness of the tax system, the quality of public services received in exchange, and the social norm of compliance among peers. All three of those determinants are, in significant part, shaped by what people hear, read, and believe about their tax system — which is to say, they are shaped by journalism. A Ghanaian informal sector worker who has never been told that her tax payment funds the Community Health Planning and Services compound in her district, who has never seen a news story connecting road construction to domestic revenue, and who has no social proof from her peers and neighbours that compliance is normal rather than exceptional, will not comply. She is not making an irrational choice. She is responding correctly to the information environment she inhabits.

    The GRA’s own pivot toward service-based rather than enforcement-based tax administration acknowledges this dynamic explicitly. Commissioner-General Sarpong has said that the Authority is building a “human face” into tax administration because “voluntary cooperation is central to effective revenue collection.” The MTS’s design principle is a communication strategy as much as an administrative one. The three-year national tax education strategy and the GRA Working Group established to craft it are institutional investments in the idea that changing tax behaviour requires changing tax knowledge and tax attitudes, not merely changing tax rates. All of this is correct. And all of it stops at the boundary of what the GRA can do with its own budget and staff. Beyond that boundary, the media must take over. The GRA has 400 FM stations available to carry its message to every corner of Ghana. It is using, by any honest estimate, a fraction of that reach.

    SIX THINGS EFFECTIVE TAX JOURNALISM DOES

    ► Demystify the tax code

    The Modified Taxation Scheme’s three categories, such as PTI, PTT, and MCB, are simple in design and incomprehensible by name. A journalist who explains in Twi, Dagbani, Hausa, or Ewe that a tailor earning GH₵ 50,000 a year pays 3% ( GH₵1,500) has done more for compliance than a hundred GRA press releases.

    ► Connect tax to visible services

    Ghanaians who can see that their taxes built the road, funded the hospital, or supplied the school meal are more likely to pay voluntarily. Journalism that traces a public expenditure back to its revenue source, and a compliance failure forward to its service consequence, creates the feedback loop that enforcement alone cannot.

    ► Expose fraud and leakage

    Tax compliance is undermined not only by non-payment but by the perception that payments are wasted. Investigative reporting on NHIA fraud, inflated government contracts, and GRA corruption weakens that excuse while building the social contract. The two roles are not in tension: holding the government accountable for spending is itself a tax compliance intervention.

    ► Report in local languages

    More than 80% of Ghana’s informal sector workers do not consume news in English. Radio in Twi, Dagbani, Ga, Ewe, Hausa, and Fante reaches the trader at Kantamanto, the artisan in Sunyani, the food vendor at Makola. Tax education that lives only in English-language newspapers and breakfast TV does not reach the people it is designed to reach.

    ► Platform the compliant

    A tailor in Kumasi who proudly paid her Modified Taxation Scheme levy and is expanding her business is a more powerful compliance argument than any enforcement story. Journalism that celebrates visible, relatable, successful taxpayers creates social proof that compliance is normal and rational, not exceptional and punitive.

    ► Ask the budget questions

    Every road not built, every school not stocked, every NHIS claim not paid is, in part, a consequence of uncollected revenue. Journalists, who connect budget shortfalls to compliance gaps and who ask ministers not only where the money went but where it failed to arrive, are performing the most direct form of development journalism available.

    WHAT EFFECTIVE TAX COMMUNICATION LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

    There are models from which Ghana can learn. In Rwanda, the Rwanda Revenue Authority has developed a systematic media engagement programme that trains broadcast journalists annually in fiscal reporting, provides embargoed budget materials to selected outlets 48 hours before publication to enable accurate coverage, and operates a dedicated taxpayer communications unit that produces translated radio content in Kinyarwanda for rural audiences. The result is a media landscape in which budget day is covered as a development story rather than a political spectacle, and in which compliance messaging reaches farmers, traders, and informal workers in language and formats they actually consume. Rwanda’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which stood at approximately 15% five years ago, is now approaching 18% (a trajectory Ghana), with a comparable economy and a far larger media ecosystem, has not been able to sustain.

    In Kenya, the Kenya Revenue Authority’s partnership with community radio stations in Kiswahili and vernacular languages has been credited with significant increases in self-assessment compliance among informal sector operators. The key insight behind those programmes is one that Ghana’s media landscape is well-positioned to apply: tax compliance messages that resonate in local languages, delivered by trusted voices in specific communities, and connected to visible local development outcomes are more persuasive than any centralised English-language campaign. A Dagbani radio presenter explaining the Modified Taxation Scheme to market traders in Tamale, connecting the 3% levy to the new market stalls being constructed in the district, and interviewing a trader who registered and found the process simpler than expected, is delivering a compliance intervention that no GRA enforcement operation can replicate.

    The Network of Financial and Tax Reporters in Ghana is an important institutional foundation for this work. The GRA’s media engagement programme including its annual press corps briefings and the provision of simplified tax documentation for journalists, is a useful starting point. But the training gap is significant. A survey of working journalists in Ghana would likely find that the majority cannot explain the difference between a direct and indirect tax, do not know what a tax-to-GDP ratio is or why it matters, and have never written a story that connected an uncollected tax to an undelivered public service. That is not a criticism of individual journalists. It is a structural observation about a professional training ecosystem that has not invested adequately in fiscal literacy as a core journalistic competency. The GRA’s Working Group on the three-year tax education strategy should include media capacity development as a funded, mandatory component, not a courtesy invitation to editors, but a sustained, assessed, and resourced programme to build the corps of financially literate reporters that Ghana’s development journalism requires.

    THE DEVELOPMENT DIVIDEND THAT COMPLIANCE MAKES POSSIBLE

    The numbers at the end of this argument are worth stating directly, because they are large enough to change the terms of Ghana’s development debate. If Ghana’s tax-to-GDP ratio rose from 13.6% to the sub-Saharan African average of 17%, not to the OECD level, not to some aspirational ceiling, but simply to the average of its peer group, the additional revenue at 2025 GDP levels would amount to approximately $2.5–3 billion per year. That is roughly twice Ghana’s annual infrastructure financing gap. It would fully fund the National Health Insurance Scheme without structural deficits. It would pay the Free SHS feeding programme from the Consolidated Fund, as it should be, without cannibalising GETFund’s capital mandate. It would fund the cold-chain infrastructure that would stop northern farmers watching their rice rot in warehouses. It would build the emergency beds that Charles Amissah needed and could not find.

    None of that requires new taxes. All of it requires collecting the taxes Ghana already imposes, from the people and businesses that are already legally obligated to pay them but have been allowed, through a combination of administrative weakness, complexity, and inadequate communication, to opt out without consequence. The GRA’s 2026 Year of Compliance is a recognition that the existing legal framework is sufficient, if compliance with it improves. The Modified Taxation Scheme’s 3% flat rate for the informal sector is a recognition that the compliance cost barrier must be lowered. The Commissioner-General’s appeal to the media is a recognition that lowering the barrier is not enough if the people who need to walk through it have never been shown where the door is.

    That last recognition is where journalists and media houses enter the story not as amplifiers of GRA messaging but as development actors in their own right. The seamstress in Kumasi who does not know she owes 3% of her GH₵ 50,000 turnover is not a tax evader. She is an uninformed citizen in a country that has not invested adequately in telling her what it needs from her and what it will give her in return. A journalist who tells her in Twi, on a radio station she listens to while she sews, in a story that connects her small payment to the district road being repaired outside her workshop, is not doing GRA’s job for it. She is doing journalism’s job: connecting citizens to the systems that shape their lives, and giving those citizens the information they need to participate in those systems rather than stand outside them. Ghana cannot build its hospitals, fix its roads, pay its teachers, and fund its insurance scheme on 1.2 million taxpayers. It needs to tell the other 13 million working Ghanaians that they are part of the project. That is a journalism job. It is past time it was treated as one.

    The GRA’s Q1 2026 collection of GH₵ 33.7 billion, 20% above Q1 2025 despite the abolition of three taxes, is the strongest available evidence that compliance can improve rapidly when the right conditions are in place. Those conditions include a simpler system, better service, digital infrastructure, and targeted enforcement. They also include a public that understands what the system asks of it. Building that understanding is not the GRA’s problem alone. It belongs to every newsroom, broadcaster, and journalist in Ghana that covers the country’s development. The GRA has extended a hand to the media. The question is whether the media has the training, the independence, and the institutional commitment to take it seriously.

    THEORETICAL REFERENCES: Alm (1999, 2019) Tax morale & voluntary compliance · Allingham & Sandmo (1972) Tax evasion model · Levi (1988) Of Rule and Revenue — fiscal social contract theory · Schumpeter (1918) fiscal sociology · Norris & Inglehart (2018) Cultural evolution & civic norms

    KEY SOURCES: GRA Technical Advisor, CPS Forum (7 Apr 2026) — Sikaman Times · GRA Modified Taxation Scheme — MyJoyOnline / The Herald (Apr 2026) · GRA Commissioner-General, Press Corps Address (20 Nov 2025) — The Herald / Ghanaian Times · GRA 2026 ‘Year of Compliance’ agenda — GhanaWeb (Mar 2026) · GRA Sunyani Sensitisation Forum — NewsGhana (Nov 2025) · RSF Ghana Press Freedom 2026 · Emmanuel Dogbevi — Reuters Institute (2026)

    TOPICS: Tax Compliance · GRA · Modified Taxation Scheme · Informal Sector · Tax Journalism · Development Finance · Ghana Revenue · Tax-to-GDP · Media & Civic Responsibility

    Ghana Development Watch — Special Edition by The Kasoa Economist. Published outside the regular schedule in response to a pressing national development issue.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Chicken Road: Quick‑Play Crash Game voor Snelle Winsten

    Chicken Road laat je een dappere kip door een drukke straat leiden, terwijl je steeds de multiplier verhoogt voordat je zelfs maar kunt ademhalen. De kern van het spel is eenvoudig: kies een inzet, zet een stap vooruit, beslis of je cashout of het risico neemt voor de volgende stap, en hoop dat de kip blijft lopen.

    Direct Toegang op Elk Apparaat

    Omdat het spel in je browser draait, hoef je niet te wachten op downloads of inloggen—gewoon op een knop tikken en je bent weer op weg. Mobiele telefoons worden perfecte arena’s voor snelle rondes; de touch-interface laat je binnen milliseconden op de “step” knop tikken en vervolgens op “cash out” drukken voordat het volgende obstakel verschijnt.

    • Responsief ontwerp verlaagt de leercurve.
    • Laag datagebruik houdt je telefoonbatterij tevreden.
    • Cross-platform synchronisatie betekent dat je kunt stoppen op je telefoon en verdergaan op je tablet.

    Als je onderweg bent—in de rij staan of even een korte pauze nemen—Chicken Road past in dat kleine stukje tijd zonder dat je een volledige sessie hoeft te starten.

    Korte Sessies, Groot Spanningsgevoel

    De meeste spelers die van Chicken Road houden, behandelen het als een snelle sensatie in plaats van een marathon gokspel. Een sessie duurt misschien twee of drie minuten: een paar stappen gevolgd door een explosieve cash-out of een plotseling verlies.

    De Hartslag van een Rapid Play

    Elke ronde voelt als een hartslag—stap, beslis, weer stap—totdat de kip de straat oversteekt of in een oven terechtkomt. Spelers die de voorkeur geven aan korte bursts stellen meestal een mentale timer in: “Ik speel totdat ik drie wins heb of één ronde heb verloren.” Dit houdt de adrenaline hoog terwijl je overbelasting voorkomt.

    • Snelle winsten veroorzaken dopaminepieken.
    • Snelle resets houden het tempo levendig.
    • Spelers kunnen gemakkelijk meerdere korte sessies door de dag heen stapelen.

    Beslissingstijd onder Druk

    De kern van snel spelen ligt in split-second keuzes. Na elke succesvolle stap springt de multiplier—vaak met enorme factoren—maar zo neemt ook het risico toe dat je in een verborgen val loopt. Jouw taak is te beslissen of je blijft of cashout voordat de kip wordt gebakken.

    Tips voor Snelle Besluitvorming

    Als je in de zone bent, is je brein afgestemd op het zoeken naar patronen, zelfs als die er niet zijn. Om die bias te overwinnen:

    1. Stel vooraf een target multiplier in voordat je begint.
    2. Houd je inzetgrootte consistent zodat je niet wordt verleid door grote inzetten halverwege het spel.
    3. Gebruik de demo-modus om te oefenen met het snel bereiken van die targets.

    Een scherpe focus zorgt ervoor dat elke ronde voelt als een mini-race.

    Risico Beheren Zonder Momentum te Verliezen

    Snel spelen vereist dat je risico beheert terwijl de spanning behouden blijft. Het inzetbereik is breed—van €0.01 tot €150—maar de meeste snelle spelers kiezen voor de onderkant omdat dat meer rondes binnen hun budget mogelijk maakt.

    • Minimale inzetten maken snelle bankroll-cycli mogelijk.
    • Hogere inzetten verminderen het aantal mogelijke rondes.
    • Een klein bankroll betekent dat je eerder een winst kunt behalen voordat je alles verliest.

    In de praktijk helpt het om een limiet van één of twee rondes per sessie te stellen, zodat je niet vastloopt, maar toch kunt genieten van het snelle tempo van het spel.

    De Juiste Moeilijkheidsgraad Kiezen voor Snelle Winsten

    Het spel biedt vier moeilijkheidsniveaus die het aantal stappen en het risico per stap aanpassen. Spelers die korte, intense acties willen, kiezen vaak voor Easy of Medium omdat die meer kansen bieden om vroeg te cashen voordat de kip in een oven terechtkomt.

    Moeilijkheidsgraad Cheat Sheet

    • Easy: 24 stappen, lager risico.
    • Medium: 22 stappen, matig risico.
    • Hard: 20 stappen, hoger risico.
    • Hardcore: 15 stappen, maximum risico.

    Quick play floreert op Easy en Medium waar de multiplier langzaam stijgt, wat snelle beslissingen mogelijk maakt, maar toch redelijke winsten oplevert.

    The Multiplier Machine: Snelle Verassingen

    De multiplier kan dramatisch stijgen na slechts een paar stappen—soms tientallen of honderden keren je inzet—voordat de kip in een oven wordt gevangen. Omdat spelers voortdurend beslissen of ze blijven of cashout, voelen deze pieken als directe beloningen.

    • Stap 1: Multiplier begint bij 1x.
    • Stap 2: Springt vaak naar 12x‑30x.
    • Stap 3: Kan een 100x spike bereiken.
    • Stap 4+: Het risico neemt toe, maar ook de potentiële beloningen.

    Spelers die jagen op hogere multipliers raken vaak gefrustreerd wanneer de kip vroeg sterft; vasthouden aan bescheiden doelen houdt hen gemotiveerd tijdens die korte bursts.

    In Met Demo Mode Busten

    De gratis demo laat je alle vier de moeilijkheidsgraden uitproberen zonder echt geld te riskeren—perfecte trainingsgrond voor snelle rondes omdat je in minuten tientallen sessies kunt doorlopen.

    1. Begrijp hoe snel multipliers stijgen bij elk moeilijkheidsniveau.
    2. Voel de druk van beslissen of je cashout na slechts één stap.
    3. Test verschillende target multipliers onder tijdsdruk.

    Deze oefening helpt bij het opbouwen van spierherinnering zodat je, wanneer je met echt geld speelt, hetzelfde hoge tempo kunt volhouden zonder te twijfelen.

    De Meest Voorkomende Valkuilen in Rapid Play

    Zelfs ervaren speed‑players kunnen struikelen over deze fouten:

    • Overconfidence: Geloven dat je kunt voorspellen waar vallen verschijnen.
    • Gebrek aan Target Setting: Wachten tot de multiplier groot is voordat je cashout.
    • Session Limits Negeren: Spelen totdat vermoeidheid toeslaat tijdens één lange sessie.
    • Chasing Losses: Inzetten verhogen na een verliesronde binnen dezelfde sessie.

    De oplossing is simpel: stel vooraf een realistisch target multiplier in (1.5x–3x) en houd je daaraan, ongeacht hoe verleidelijk het is om voor grotere getallen te gaan tijdens een hot streak.

    Klaar voor Snelle Winsten? Spring Nu In!

    Als je houdt van korte uitbarstingen van spanning en snel beslissingen wilt nemen die je inzet binnen seconden kunnen verdubbelen, is Chicken Road voor jou gemaakt. Pak je telefoon, kies Easy of Medium, stel een bescheiden target multiplier in, en begin met stappen—elke zet kan een paar euro in een winnende streak veranderen voordat je stopt met spelen voor de dag. Waarom wachten? Duik vandaag nog in Chicken Road en proef die directe rush van overwinning, terwijl je bankroll veilig blijft en je gameplay fris.

  • ‘No Slot’ scam hits health workers recruitment of Nurses and Allied Health Professionals 

     

     

    By News Desk

    ​

    Confusion and outrage have erupted among thousands of newly qualified nurses and allied health professionals following the opening of the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) recruitment portal.

    What was expected to be a streamlined process for national posting has been marred by allegations of a “scam” as applicants report that available slots in multiple regions vanished within seconds of the portal’s launch.

    ​The portal, which officially opened for several regions—including the Central and Western Regions—at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, reportedly showed “No Slots” as early as 10:01 AM, leaving many qualified professionals stranded and questioning the transparency of the placement system.

    ​Vanishing Slots

    ​Viral videos and social media testimonies have flooded the internet, with frustrated health workers documenting their experience in real-time. One applicant, identified on TikTok as @ewurakua_steph, expressed her disbelief in a video that has since gained significant traction.

    ​”The posting and everything about it is a scam. The portal opened at exactly 10:00AM. Tell me why at 10:01, there was no slot in the Central or Western Region? 10:01, 10:02, 10:03… there was no slot,” she lamented while showing a screenshot of the “No slots” message across nearly every region.

     

    ​Her sentiment was echoed by hundreds of others who claimed they were logged in and ready the moment the clock struck ten, only to find the system already depleted.

     

    ​Allegations of Underhand Dealings

     

    ​The rapid disappearance of slots has fueled rumors of “backdoor” postings, where slots are allegedly reserved for those with political connections or those willing to pay middle-men.

    ​”Some people even had the chance to see seven slots or two slots in places like Gomoa or Apam, but by the time they clicked, it was gone,” another applicant, who asked to remain anonymous, told our reporter. “How is it possible for thousands of slots to be filled by human beings in sixty seconds? It feels like the system was programmed to fail us.”

     

    ​The screenshot provided by several applicants shows a dropdown menu for “Posting Preference” where regions including the North East, Northern, Oti, Savannah, Upper East, Volta, and Western North all displayed the dreaded “(No slots)” tag simultaneously.

     

    ​The Human Cost

     

    ​For many of these health workers, who have remained home for years awaiting financial clearance and official posting, this latest hurdle is a breaking point.

    ​”We have studied for years, passed our licensing exams, and waited in the house while our skills rot,” said Kofi Mensah, an Allied Health professional. “To be told the portal is open only to find it’s a ghost portal is an insult to our profession. If they have already given the slots to their friends, they should tell us so we don’t waste our data and our hopes.”

     

    ​Call for Transparency

     

    ​The frustrated recruits are now calling on the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to provide a breakdown of how many slots were actually available and to explain the technical “miracle” that allowed them to be filled in under a minute.

    ​”If anyone actually got a posting, they should comment and let us know,” @ewurakua_steph challenged in her video. “Because as it stands, it looks like a total scam.”

     

    ​As of press time, the Ministry of Health has not issued an official statement regarding the portal’s “No slot” status or the mounting allegations of unfairness.

    ​Are you an affected health worker? Contact our newsroom to share your experience.?

    Email: aaagency234@gmail.com

    WhatsApp: 0509337979

     

  • President Mahama Hails Catholic Church as ‘Vital Partner’ in Ghana’s Growth  

    President Mahama Hails Catholic Church as ‘Vital Partner’ in Ghana’s Growth  

    ​By Humu Shaibu

    ​President John Dramani Mahama has lauded the Catholic Church for its “pioneering and sustained” contributions to Ghana’s development, describing the institution as a bedrock of the nation’s progress in education, healthcare, and social services.

     

    ​The President’s commendation was delivered on his behalf by the Presidential Envoy for Inter-Faith and Ecumenical Relations, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, during the installation of the Most Rev. Simon Kofi Appiah as the new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jasikan in the Oti Region.

     

    ​Addressing a gathering of the faithful, traditional leaders, and state officials, the President emphasized that the partnership between the state and the Catholic Church remains a cornerstone of Ghana’s stability.

     

    ​“The Catholic Church has, over the years, distinguished itself as a vital partner in Ghana’s development through its immense contributions to education, healthcare, social services, and moral formation,” the President stated.

     

    ​A Legacy of Faith and Service

     

    ​The President extended a special message of gratitude to the outgoing Bishop, Most Rev. Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante, for his decades of selfless service. He noted that Bishop Mante’s leadership had left an indelible legacy of faith and unity within the diocese and the nation at large.

     

    ​Turning his attention to the newly installed Bishop Appiah, President Mahama described the appointment as a testament to his humility and unwavering dedication to the work of God. He urged the new prelate to serve as a “moral compass” in an increasingly complex global landscape.

     

    ​“Ghana’s development is not built solely on political and economic structures but also on strong moral and spiritual foundations,” the President’s message read.

     

    ​A Shining Example of Harmony

     

    ​Beyond sectoral contributions, President Mahama highlighted the Catholic Church’s role in maintaining Ghana’s status as a beacon of religious tolerance. He reaffirmed his government’s commitment to fostering a climate where Christians, Muslims, and other faith groups work in tandem toward a common national goal.

     

    ​“Your appointment is a clear testament to your commitment to service,” the President told Bishop Appiah, adding that his leadership would have a far-reaching impact well beyond the walls of the church.

     

    ​Commitment to Peace and Justice

     

    ​The event also served as a platform for the government to reaffirm its dedication to social justice and unity. The President called on the Church to continue its advocacy for the vulnerable and to support government efforts in promoting peace.

     

    ​As the Jasikan Diocese begins a new chapter under Bishop Appiah, the presidency assured the Catholic community of continued collaboration, particularly in rural development and youth empowerment.

     

    ​Industry analysts and religious observers suggest that this strong show of state support reinforces the influential role religious institutions continue to play in Ghana’s socio-economic architecture as the nation navigates the challenges of 2026.

     

     

    ​

  • Ghana’s crucial but complicated IMF exit strategy

    Ghana’s crucial but complicated IMF exit strategy

    By Toma Imirhe

    As Ghana approaches the rescheduled conclusion of its three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on August 16, 2026, policymakers are shifting focus from stabilization to sustainability. For the Government of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the challenge is no longer just meeting programme benchmarks, but ensuring that the hard-won macroeconomic gains endure beyond IMF oversight.

    The US$3 billion programme, approved in May 2023, was designed to restore macroeconomic stability following Ghana’s worst economic crisis in decades. With about US$2.8 billion already disbursed and the fifth review successfully completed, Ghana now stands at a critical inflection point of either exiting the programme with restored economic credibility or risking a reversal of the gains made through it..

    By most official accounts, Ghana’s performance under the IMF programme has been strong. The IMF itself notes that “performance under the program has been generally satisfactory,” with all quantitative targets for the fifth review met.

    Macroeconomic indicators have improved significantly. Growth has rebounded, reaching 6.0% last year, inflation has returned to single digits for the first time since 2021 – the 3.2% recorded for March is the lowest in decades – and the cedi has stabilized at below 11 to one US dollar amid rising reserves that can cover about 5.8 months of imports.. These gains reflect a combination of fiscal consolidation, tight monetary policy, and external support including debt restructuring agreements with bilateral creditors.

    The Bank of Ghana has complemented fiscal tightening with cautious monetary easing, following a period of aggressive rate hikes. According to the IMF, the central bank has “appropriately begun a cautious monetary easing cycle,” (indeed lowering its benchmark Monetary Policy Rate by 1,400 basis points from 28% to 14% over the past year),while rebuilding international reserves.

    How successful has the programme been?

    Originally scheduled to end in May 2026, the programme was extended by three months to August 16. Contrary to speculation, the extension was not due to poor performance.

    IMF Resident Representative Dr. Adrian Alter has emphasized that the extension was “purely technical” and intended to allow sufficient time to complete the final programme review.

    Specifically, the extension enables an assessment of macroeconomic data through end-2025 and the first quarter of 2026, the completion of reforms underpinning the sixth and final review and the preparation and circulation of documentation formally ending the programme for IMF Board approval.

    In essence, the additional time is designed to ensure a clean and credible exit rather than a rushed conclusion. It also allows for adjustments to programme targets particularly fiscal and monetary benchmarks to reflect evolving macroeconomic conditions while maintaining overall reform momentum.

    The likelihood of Ghana meeting all end-programme targets is high but not guaranteed.

    On the positive side, Ghana has demonstrated strong programme ownership. The IMF credits the government and its central bank with “decisively implementing ambitious corrective actions” following earlier policy slippages. Fiscal consolidation is on track, with a projected primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP by end-2026.

    However, several risks could derail full compliance.

    One is structural reform delays. While quantitative targets have largely been met, some structural reforms have experienced delays. These include public financial management improvements and state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms. Failure to fully implement these reforms could affect the final review.

    Another is lingering uncertainties over debt restructuring. Although significant progress has been made, Ghana’s external debt restructuring is not fully complete. The IMF has warned that delays in concluding agreements with all creditors could pose risks to programme completion and post-programme sustainability.

    A third risk is external vulnerabilities. Ghana remains exposed to global commodity price volatility particularly gold and cocoa prices as well as oil import costs. A deterioration in external conditions could impact fiscal revenues and foreign exchange inflows. This has been illustrated vividly by the recent reversal of the surge in the price of gold and the sharp increase in the cost of oil imports resulting from the ongoing geo-political tensions in the Persian Gulf.

    Inevitably, there are also policy slippage risks. Election-related spending pressures or weakened fiscal discipline could undermine programme targets. The IMF has repeatedly stressed the need to “stay the course” on fiscal adjustment.

    Given these factors, Ghana is likely to meet most but possibly not all structural benchmarks, even if headline macroeconomic targets are achieved.

    By conventional IMF metrics, Ghana’s programme can be considered broadly successful.

    It has stabilized inflation and exchange rates, restored a measure of investor confidence, improved fiscal balances and rebuilt foreign exchange reserves. Perhaps most importantly, it has re-established macroeconomic credibility after the 2022 crisis and debt default.

    However, success has come at a cost. Fiscal consolidation has constrained public spending, while high interest rates have weighed on private sector credit. The domestic debt exchange programme also imposed losses on bondholders, including institutional investors such as banks, insurers, fund managers and pension funds, affecting financial sector stability.

    Moreover, Ghana remains classified as being at risk of debt distress, despite recent improvements in its sovereign credit ratings, underscoring the fragility of the recovery.

    Preparing for life after the IMF

    Both the Government of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana are already taking steps to ensure a smooth transition out of the programme.

    One key priority is institutionalizing fiscal discipline. The 2026 budget aligns with IMF targets and introduces a strengthened fiscal responsibility framework. Sustaining primary surpluses will be critical to reducing debt levels.

    Another is the strengthening of revenue mobilization. Efforts are underway to enhance tax administration, broaden the tax base, and reduce revenue leakages. These reforms are essential to maintaining fiscal space post-IMF.

    Deepening monetary policy credibility is yet another priority. To this end, the Bank of Ghana is focusing on strengthening its independence, improving foreign exchange market operations, and reducing quasi-fiscal activities.

    The central bank, in collaboration with government itself is also working towards fully restoring financial sector stability. Recapitalization of banks and resolution of non-performing loans remain ongoing priorities, alongside reforms to state-owned financial institutions.

    Despite the progress made, Ghana faces significant challenges after exiting the IMF programme.

    Maintaining a sustainable public debt trajectory without IMF oversight will require strict adherence to fiscal rules and continued engagement with creditors. It is noteworthy that government has already resumed issuing medium germ domestic bonds (which are available to foreign investors) even before the IMF programme ends.

    The energy sector remains a major fiscal risk too, with arrears and inefficiencies threatening to derail consolidation efforts. This situation is not being helped by the ongoing spike in oil prices.

    High interest rates and limited access to credit could hinder economic growth and job creation. Although interest rates have come down significantly since mid-2025, actual lending rates are still substantially higher than inflation and low yields on government treasuries have not yet diverted investible funds into the requisite major increase in credit to the private sector.

    Perhaps most worrying of all, sustaining political commitment to difficult reforms—particularly in a potentially charged political environment—will be a major test, one that increases as the next general elections looms nearer.

    While all these risks can be addressed, at least in part, by domestic economic policy, global economic uncertainty, commodity price swings, and geopolitical tensions which could quickly reverse gains, cannot.

    Ultimately, Ghana’s exit from the IMF programme will be less about ticking the final boxes and more about maintaining discipline in a post-programme environment.

    As IMF officials have cautioned, “continued reform efforts remain essential” to sustain stability and growth.

    The three-month extension to August 2026 may appear minor, but it could prove decisive. By allowing time to consolidate reforms and complete the final review thoroughly, it enhances the credibility of Ghana’s exit.

    The real test, however, begins after the IMF leaves. Whether Ghana can sustain its recovery independently will determine if this programme is remembered as a turning point—or merely a temporary reprieve.

    SOURCE: Business Post online

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Inside the AI revolution reshaping Ghana’s ports

    Inside the AI revolution reshaping Ghana’s ports

    By Adnan Adams Mohammed

    At Ghana’s bustling maritime gateways, a silent, invisible revolution is unfolding. It doesn’t carry a badge or walk the docks, but it has managed to do what decades of manual inspections could not: pinpoint a staggering GH¢11 billion in hidden revenue leakages.

    The tool at the heart of this transformation is the ‘Publican’ AI system. While its deployment by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has been hailed as a masterstroke in fiscal recovery, it has simultaneously become a lightning rod for a national debate involving the Ministry of Finance, parliamentary watchdogs, and trade unions.

    This is the analytical inside story of how Ghana is attempting to digitize its borders—and the friction that comes with it.

    The GH¢11 billion revelation

    The headline figure that has stopped the nation in its tracks is GH¢11 billion. This is the amount the GRA credits the Publican AI with exposing through “suspicious transactions.”

    For years, the ports were plagued by a phenomenon known as “value gap” or under-invoicing where importers declare the value of a luxury SUV as that of a salvaged sedan, or a shipment of high-end electronics as mere plastic parts. By utilizing global price benchmarking and real-time data analytics, Publican stripped away the anonymity of these transactions.

    “The AI system is a game-changer,” says Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, the Commissioner-General of the GRA. “It isn’t just about finding mistakes; it’s about identifying deliberate patterns of tax evasion that have drained the national purse for years.”

    Efficiency vs. friction: The speed debate

    Perhaps the most persistent criticism from the trading community specifically clearing agents was that adding a layer of AI analysis would “choke” the flow of goods, turning Tema and Takoradi into digital parking lots.

    However, the GRA has countered this with data of its own. The Authority maintains that Publican is actually speeding up trade. By acting as a sophisticated filter, the AI instantly clears “low-risk” cargo from compliant importers who have a history of honest declarations.

    “In the past, we had to slow everyone down to catch a few bad actors,” a senior customs official explained. “Now, the AI flags the 10% that are suspicious, allowing the other 90% to move through the gates faster than ever.”

    The question of sovereignty: Who makes the final call?

    A major point of analytical tension has been the fear of “Algorithm Governance” the idea that a machine might be unilaterally deciding how much a Ghanaian business owes in taxes.

    The GRA and the Ministry of Finance have been careful to clarify the AI’s mandate. The system is a “whistleblower,” not a “judge.” It does not determine the final customs value; instead, it generates a “red flag” when a declaration deviates significantly from global market norms.

    The final assessment remains in human hands. This “human-in-the-loop” architecture is designed to prevent technical glitches from causing financial ruin for importers, while still providing customs officers with the data-driven “ammunition” they need to challenge suspicious claims.

    Political heat and the “Truedare” controversy

    Despite the economic wins, the rollout has faced intense political scrutiny. Joseph Cudjoe, the Minister for Public Enterprises, recently raised alarms regarding potential revenue losses and the structure of the deal involving the AI’s parent company, Truedare.

    Cudjoe’s concerns center on the “cost-benefit” of the contract—specifically whether the fees paid to the technology providers might offset the gains made in revenue recovery. His “alarm” serves as a reminder that in the world of government procurement, even the most efficient technology must pass the test of transparency and value for money.

    The Ministry of Finance, however, has stood firmly behind the project. In a recent defense, the Ministry argued that the GH¢11 billion identified far outweighs any operational costs and that the system is essential for the nation’s survival under current global economic pressures.

    Stakeholder evolution: The IEAG turnaround

    One of the most telling signs of the system’s viability is the shifting stance of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG). Initially skeptical and vocal about their concerns, the association has recently moved to back the Publican system.

    This endorsement came only after the GRA and the technology providers addressed specific “pain points” regarding user interface and the speed of the flagging process. The IEAG’s support suggests that the private sector is willing to accept AI oversight—provided it remains fair, predictable, and transparent.

    The road ahead: A digital frontier

    As Ghana continues to grapple with debt and the need for domestic revenue mobilization, the “Publican” experiment is more than just a software rollout; it is a test case for the continent.

    The analytical reality is that the GH¢11 billion recovered is only the beginning. The real victory for the GRA will be “behavioral change”—a future where importers stop attempting to cheat the system because they know a tireless, 24/7 digital eye is watching every invoice.

    For now, the silicon gatekeeper remains at its post. The debate over its cost and its “intelligence” will likely continue in the halls of Parliament, but at the ports, the numbers speak for themselves. The machine has found the money; now, the state must ensure it keeps it.

     

     

  • Uncomfortable but Honest

    Uncomfortable but Honest

    Book Review: Rules of the Marketing

    Communications Executive: What Marketing Communications Execs Do, and How to Do It with Excellence

    Authors: Joel E. Nettey and Robert E. Hinson

    Publisher: SmartLine Publishing, Accra

    Reviewer: Mohammed Ali, Head of Marketing and Communications, ADB Bank

    Great books do not merely inform they unsettle, reorient, and leave the reader permanently changed in how they see their work and their world. Rules of the Marketing Communications Executive by Joel E. Nettey and Robert E. Hinson is precisely that kind of book. Published in 2026, it arrives at a moment when the marketing communications profession is in danger of mistaking spectacle for strategy — when viral impressions, flashy visuals, and fleeting digital engagements are routinely confused with the disciplined, consequential work that effective communication actually demands. This book is a correction. And it is a necessary one.

    Reclaiming a Misunderstood Profession

    The authors begin from an uncomfortable but honest premise: marketing communications is one of the most widely practised and least deeply understood disciplines in professional life. From the outside, it is often reduced to its most visible outputs award-winning campaigns, celebrity endorsements, and the aesthetics of brand identity. What this surface reading conceals, Nettey and Hinson argue, is the rigorous intellectual and strategic labour that separates effective communication from mere noise.

    Their reframing is bold and deliberate. The marketing communications executive is not a decorator. They are an architect designing systems of influence that shape perception, guide behaviour, and generate measurable organisational outcomes. This distinction is not rhetorical. It runs as a disciplining thread through every section of the book, insisting that practitioners hold themselves to a standard commensurate with the actual power they wield.

    The book is neither memoir nor academic textbook, though it draws freely on the authority of both registers. It is, in the authors’ own framing, a professional doctrine conceived not simply to instruct practice but to determine thought.

    Structure as Argument

    The book is organised into eleven thematic parts, spanning no fewer than 150 rules, and the architecture of that organisation is itself part of the argument. Each section builds on what precedes it, moving from foundational philosophy through consumer psychology, audience intelligence, integration strategy, and professional ethics in a sequence that feels deliberate rather than encyclopaedic.

    Part I, which establishes what the authors call the Campaign Mindset, sets the intellectual tone for everything that follows. Campaigns, they argue, are not creative episodes they are coordinated systems with defined objectives, disciplined execution, and accountability to outcomes. The phrase that anchors this section  the campaign mindset is a discipline, not a mood is the kind of formulation that practitioners will find themselves returning to long after they have closed the book.

    The ten rules that govern this opening section are worth the price of admission alone. They include the injunction to understand the modern campaign environment before entering it; the reminder that value is created through communication, not merely through product; and the insistence that the practitioner’s role is strategic before it is creative. These are not novel ideas in isolation, but assembled and argued with this clarity and conviction, they constitute a genuine professional standard.

    Beyond Data, Toward Insight

    One of the book’s most valuable contributions is its treatment of the relationship between data and insight a distinction that has become urgent in an era when measurement is abundant and understanding remains rare.

    The authors are unambiguous: data tells you what happened; insight tells you why it happened, and what should happen next. Campaigns built on data alone risk being reactive, shallow, and ultimately inconsequential. Campaigns built on insight are strategic, purposeful, and capable of producing durable impact. In making this argument, Nettey and Hinson push back against the prevailing assumption that more information automatically produces better decisions. Human interpretive judgment, they insist, remains irreplaceable and its cultivation is a professional responsibility, not an optional supplement to technical competence.

    Their treatment of consumer behaviour is similarly grounded in reality. Rather than rehearsing the rational-actor models that populate introductory marketing texts, the authors engage seriously with heuristics, situational decision-making, and post-purchase evaluation. This behavioural realism gives the book an authority that purely theoretical treatments cannot match.

    Communication as Value Creation

    Among the book’s most provocative arguments is its claim that communication does not merely transmit value it constitutes it. This is a significant departure from the conventional view in which value resides in the product and communication simply carries the message.

    Nettey and Hinson contend that meaning, shaped through framing, narrative, and context, directly determines how value is perceived and experienced. Functional attributes matter, but they do not speak for themselves. It is the communicative architecture surrounding them that governs whether a market responds, and how. This is a position aligned with the best of contemporary brand strategy, but it is argued here with a directness and practical clarity that makes it immediately actionable rather than merely interesting.

    The African Dimension

    What distinguishes this book from the majority of marketing communications texts currently in circulation is the confidence and intelligence with which it takes an African perspective. Most comparable works originate from and speak to Western markets, treating African practice, where they acknowledge it at all, as a derivative or an approximation of a standard set elsewhere.

    Nettey and Hinson refuse that framing entirely. They argue that world-class creative work is produced not by competently applying global best practice, but by understanding your audience so deeply and your culture so specifically that the work you create could not have been made anywhere else, by anyone else. That specificity, they argue is not a limitation. It is a competitive advantage.

    The book builds its entire treatment of cultural intelligence on this foundation. Knowing the social conventions, cultural registers, and community dynamics of the markets you serve is not presented as a supplement to technical skill. It is presented as a prerequisite for it. In doing so, the authors relocate the centre of gravity of the discipline insisting that African practitioners are not catching up with a standard but contributing to one.

    Ethics and Professional Identity

    The book’s closing sections address the ethical dimensions of marketing communications with the same seriousness they bring to strategy and execution. Every campaign, the authors argue, is an act of cultural intervention. It shapes perception, reinforces or challenges values, and influences behaviour at scale. Practitioners who do not reckon with that responsibility are not merely professionally incomplete they are potentially complicit in outcomes they have not chosen to examine.

    This is strong language, and it is earned. The book’s treatment of professional identity encompassing continuous learning, ethical self-examination, and the cultivation of genuine expertise is among its most enduring contributions. It asks, in effect, what kind of practitioner do you intend to be? And it equips readers with the frameworks to answer that question honestly.

    Assessment

    Rules of the Marketing Communications Executive is a work of genuine intellectual ambition, executed with discipline and structured with care. Its greatest strengths are the clarity of its central argument, the practicality of its frameworks, and the confidence with which it claims an African perspective without apology or qualification.

    The writing demands real engagement. Readers seeking quick answers or surface-level checklists will find the book challenging. But that challenge is, in a meaningful sense, the point. A profession that wishes to be taken seriously must be willing to take itself seriously and this book makes that case with every page.

    It is essential reading for marketing communications practitioners, strategists, brand managers, and anyone who believes that what gets communicated, and how, is among the most consequential work an organisation can do.

     

     

  • From raw ore to refined wealth: Inside Ghana’s bold blueprint to become Africa’s gold processing hub

    From raw ore to refined wealth: Inside Ghana’s bold blueprint to become Africa’s gold processing hub

    By Adnan Adams Mohammed

    For over a century, the story of Ghana’s gold has been one of departure. From the deep shafts of Obuasi to the alluvial plains of the Western Region, the precious metal has traditionally followed a one-way path: unearthed from Ghanaian soil, packed into crates as raw dore, and shipped to refineries in Switzerland, Dubai, or India.

    However, a seismic shift is occurring in the corridors of power and across the mining heartlands of the country. Ghana is no longer content with being just a producer; it wants to be a processor.

    A new, aggressive industrial agenda is taking shape, promising that by the year 2030, the age-old practice of exporting raw gold will come to a definitive end.

    A directive of sovereignty

    The vision for this transformation has been articulated with increasing clarity by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led government, spearheaded by President John Dramani Mahama.

    Speaking on the government’s industrialization roadmap, CEO of Ghana Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi, recently revealed a bold directive: under the Mahama administration, no raw gold will leave the shores of Ghana by 2030.

    “It is a matter of national economic sovereignty,” Gyamfi noted in a recent series of media engagements. “We cannot continue to be a nation that exports its wealth in its most basic form only to buy it back as finished products at a premium. The directive is clear value addition is the only way to secure the future of our youth and the stability of our currency.”

    This 2030 deadline is not merely a symbolic target; it is a policy ultimatum designed to force the hand of an industry that has remained largely extractive for decades.

    The goal is to ensure that every ounce of gold mined within Ghana’s borders is refined to 24-carat bullion standards right here on Ghanaian soil.

    The quiet evolution: raw exports on the decline

    While 2030 serves as the ultimate finish line, the wheels of change are already turning. Recent data and official statements suggest that the volume of raw gold exports is already on a downward trajectory.

    “It has already started,” Gyamfi told Joy News, pointing to a strategic shift where more mining outputs are being diverted toward local refining processes. This transition from raw gold to bullion is not just a policy proposal; it is an active economic pivot.

    The decline in raw exports is a calculated result of increased local capacity. As Ghana strengthens its refining infrastructure, the traditional “dig and ship” model is being squeezed out. This shift is expected to provide the Bank of Ghana with a more direct pipeline to accumulate gold reserves, providing a critical buffer for the Ghana Cedi against global market shocks.

    Global giants take notice

    Ghana’s ambition to become a “Gold Hub” is resonating far beyond the borders of West Africa. The international community is watching, and more importantly, investing. Reports indicate that global refinery giants, companies that dominate the precious metals markets in London and Zurich, are now eyeing Ghana as a strategic base for their African operations.

    The logic is simple: by establishing a presence in Ghana, these global players can tap into the vast output of the world’s leading gold producers. The vision is for Ghana to serve as the refinery destination for the entire sub-region, processing gold from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

    “If we build the capacity to refine to London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) standards, there is no reason why gold from across West Africa shouldn’t be processed in Accra,” Gyamfi explained. This would effectively transform Ghana into a financial services and industrial powerhouse, moving the nation from the periphery of the global gold trade to its very centre.

    Beyond the bars: the ripple effect

    The transformation of the gold sector is expected to create a “multiplier effect” across the Ghanaian economy. Economists point to several key areas of impact:

    Job Creation: Refining is a high-tech industry. It requires metallurgists, chemists, security experts, and logistics professionals. By moving down the value chain, Ghana can create thousands of high-paying jobs that go beyond manual labor in the pits.

    The Jewelry and Minting Industry: With a ready supply of 24-carat gold, local artisans and industrial jewelry manufacturers will have the raw materials needed to compete globally. This could give rise to a “Made in Ghana” luxury brand.

    Revenue Retention: Refining locally allows the government to capture more tax revenue and ensures that the “premium” added during the refining process stays within the local banking system.

    Challenges on the horizon

    Despite the optimism, the road to 2030 is paved with challenges. Achieving LBMA certification, the “gold standard” for refineries, requires rigorous transparency, environmental compliance, and consistent quality. Furthermore, the government must navigate complex contracts with multinational mining firms that have long-standing agreements to ship ore to their own offshore refineries.

    There is also the critical issue of the small-scale mining sector. Integrating “galamsey” operators into a formalized refining value chain remains one of the most difficult hurdles for any administration.

    A new era for the Gold Coast

    As the 2030 deadline approaches, the narrative of Ghana’s mineral wealth is being rewritten. For centuries, the “Gold Coast” was defined by what it gave away. Today, it is being defined by what it keeps, what it builds, and what it refines.

    The shift from raw gold to bullion is more than just an industrial policy; it is a statement of intent. If the “Mahama Directive” holds and the global giants continue to pivot toward Accra, the year 2030 could mark the moment Ghana finally turned its “resource curse” into a refined, sustainable blessing.