Public policy analyst and Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has launched a sarcastic yet thoughtful critique of Ghana’s Saglemi Affordable Housing Project, describing it as a textbook example of what he terms “katanomics” governance style where political convenience trumps strategic decision-making.
In a widely circulated policy brief shared on social media, Mr Simons unpacked the multilayered failures of the $200 million housing project initiated in 2012, calling it “a case study in systemic dysfunction” and emblematic of the deeper policy incoherence afflicting Ghana’s development trajectory.
“AFFORDABLE HOUSING is a big political objective in Ghana. The people demand it, so there is massive political will to deliver. It is a desirable WHAT. The challenge is the HOW,” he wrote.
A $200 Million Debacle with No Livable Units
The Saglemi project was originally structured to deliver 5,000 affordable housing units, financed through a $200 million loan from Credit Suisse at a steep 12.5% interest rate. By the end of the project phase, however, only 1,506 units were built, but none were habitable. The rest of the funds, amounting to $180 million, had been transferred to Construtora OAS Ghana, the local arm of the Brazilian firm contracted to execute the project.
Mr Simons revealed that an estimated $115 million is still needed to make the existing structures livable, which would drive the average cost per unit above $200,000 well beyond the threshold of what can be classified as “affordable.”
“What you have is a stranded asset with an inflated cost structure that defies economic logic. The numbers simply do not add up,” he stressed.
Legal U-Turns and International Arbitration
Adding a legal twist to the housing drama, Mr Simons noted that despite criminal prosecutions initiated against two former ministers and three officials, the current government abandoned the cases within two months of returning to power, citing weak legal grounds.
Yet, in what appears to be a contradiction, Ghana is now engaged in international arbitration in Paris, where it is accusing Construtora OAS of contractual breaches and fraud. The Brazilian firm is reportedly seeking up to $180 million in damages, including lost profits.
“The government is now walking a legal tightrope. On one hand, it says the prosecutions lacked merit. On the other, it’s in court abroad making similar allegations. This inconsistency may weaken Ghana’s credibility before the tribunal,” Simons warned.
The Deeper Crisis: Policy Without Continuity
For Simons, the Saglemi debacle is not merely about poor project execution. It is a symptom of a larger illness: absence of policy continuity, institutional memory, and civic oversight.
He argues that much of Ghana’s developmental paralysis stems from the lack of independent, citizen-driven policy institutions that can outlast election cycles and provide objective inputs into national decision-making.
“In the current culture, no genuinely objective policy-conscious citizens would be allowed anywhere near serious decision-making,” he noted, calling for civil society to organise around substantive policy goals rather than political affiliations.
Lessons for the Future
The Saglemi project remains an abandoned shell, its skeletal buildings standing as a silent rebuke to years of political promises and squandered resources. For investors and policymakers alike, the controversy underscores the risks of politicised project planning, poor contract governance, and insufficient stakeholder accountability.
As Ghana seeks to bridge its housing deficit, estimated at over 1.8 million units, Bright Simons insists that future interventions must be grounded in transparent procurement, cost discipline, and institutional safeguards.
“Until we build robust civic institutions to demand accountability and coherent policymaking, the country will remain vulnerable to ‘katanomic’ failures,” he concluded.
