The Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has questioned the growing emphasis on financial profits and surpluses as a measure of the performance of state-owned enterprises and public institutions.
According to the veteran journalist and political commentator, many state institutions were established not primarily to generate monetary profits but to deliver social and economic benefits to the Ghanaian population.
His comments come amid reports of improved financial performance by several state-owned enterprises and statutory institutions for the 2025 financial year, including the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Speaking on the issue, Mr Pratt said the performance of public institutions should be assessed against the purposes for which they were established rather than solely by the surpluses they record.
“I think two or three days ago I saw a long list of state enterprises which are said to be making profit and I nearly cried. I asked myself, what was the purpose of establishing these state enterprises, these state institutions? Were they set up to accumulate monetary profit, or were they set up to accumulate social profit?” he asked.
Mr Pratt cited the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) as an example of an institution whose success, in his view, should be measured by its impact on the education sector.
He noted that GETFund receives taxes and levies to support the development of educational infrastructure and improve access to quality education.
He argued that if the fund records a significant surplus while schools continue to face serious infrastructure challenges, the development should not necessarily be celebrated as an achievement.
“If you collect taxes, levies and so on and we have a situation where children are going to school under trees, where dormitories of secondary schools have no windows, and at the end of the year you declare a surplus, it means you are not working,” he said.
“Having surpluses in your account is not a plus; it is a minus,” he added.
Mr Pratt further illustrated his argument with the example of a state-owned tomato-processing factory.
He said if such a factory were established to reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported tomato products, its success should be determined by how effectively it helps substitute locally processed products for imports.
“If we set up this tomato factory processing plant and we no longer import tomatoes from Germany, that is the achievement we are looking for. We are not going to go to the balance sheet to find out whether surpluses have been generated and profits have been generated,” he said.
He maintained that the ability of state institutions to fulfil their mandates, address national challenges and improve living conditions should be given greater consideration in assessing their performance.
“State enterprises were set up to generate largely social profit rather than monetary profit which is recorded on their bank statements,” he said.
Mr Pratt’s comments follow the release of financial figures showing improved performance among several public institutions.
The 2025 State Ownership Report of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) indicates that the Ghana Shippers’ Authority recorded a 271.52 per cent increase in net surplus, rising from GH¢69.52 million in 2024 to GH¢258.30 million in 2025.
The Authority’s total income also increased from GH¢191.76 million to GH¢380.15 million, while its total assets rose to GH¢979.92 million.
GoldBod also reported an operational surplus of approximately GH¢907 million and an overall surplus of more than GH¢5.4 billion for the 2025 financial year.
However, GoldBod Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has clarified that the GH¢5.4 billion figure should not be interpreted entirely as profit generated from the institution’s commercial activities.
According to Mr Gyamfi, GoldBod’s audited financial statements recorded an operational surplus of GH¢907 million after accounting for operational expenditure, while approximately GH¢4.5 billion of the overall surplus represented revolving seed capital provided by the government as equity to support the institution’s operations.
He has also rejected claims linking GoldBod to the US$1.7 billion loss associated with the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025, insisting that the reported loss relates to the central bank’s programme and should not be conflated with GoldBod’s audited financial performance.
The National Petroleum Authority has similarly reported stronger financial results, recording revenue of approximately GH¢819 million in 2025, alongside an increase in its surplus.
Mr Pratt also questioned what he described as an apparent inconsistency in the way financial performance is being discussed across public institutions.
He noted that while some officials have argued that the Bank of Ghana should not be judged solely on reported losses because some of those costs resulted from policy implementation, other public institutions are highlighting their financial surpluses despite not being established primarily as profit-making entities.
“What shocks me is the fact that from last week to now we are arguing that what the IMF has decided are losses of the Bank of Ghana are not losses, but they are the cost of implementing policy,” he said.
“And then the same people who are arguing that when it comes to the Bank of Ghana, the Bank of Ghana is not an up-and-down store and that it should not be judged on the basis of the so-called losses, are now posting profits for institutions who are not established even to make profit at all, and boasting about it,” he added.
Mr Pratt said the ultimate measure of the success of public institutions should be the extent to which their activities improve the quality of life of Ghanaians.
He welcomed President John Dramani Mahama’s call for modesty among ministers and public officials and urged those in public administration to focus on delivering results for citizens.
“I am extremely happy that some standard is being set, and I’m hoping that all those who are in public administration will take note of these standards which are being set,” he said.
By 1960news.com
