President John Dramani Mahama has said that listing 10 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on the Ghana Stock Exchange will strengthen their governance and make it harder for politicians to meddle in how they are run.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, he explained that a listing would change the way the companies are managed.
Successive governments, he said, would find it more difficult to remove management or dissolve boards at will.
Mahama noted that SOEs have long been associated with guaranteed pay and benefits, whatever their financial results.
He said some of them still request salary increases and bonuses even when they are posting losses.
He credited reforms carried out through the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) with improving the sector’s finances.
According to the president, SOEs that had collectively lost money in previous years recorded a net profit of nearly GH¢19 billion in the latest reporting period. SIGA’s 2025 State Ownership Report puts the sector’s net profit after tax slightly higher, at GH¢19.8 billion.
Even so, the government is pressing ahead with the listings. Mahama named two main aims: better governance and less political interference.
He argued that having more of these companies on the exchange would make it difficult for a government to interfere with them or sack their managers and boards.
The president added that the listings would also give Ghanaians, including those living abroad, a chance to invest in the enterprises through the stock exchange.
The plan is part of a broader push to improve governance and performance across the SOE sector. The Ghana Stock Exchange has previously held talks with SIGA on possible SOE listings and capital raising.
