Ghana has ranked below the global average in the Infrastructure Transparency Index, scoring 35.76 percent and revealing serious accountability gaps in how public construction projects are awarded and managed across the nation.
The ITI launched by Transparency International Ghana in partnership with CoST Ghana places the country significantly below the global benchmark of 50 percent. The assessment raises concerns about accountability, citizen inclusion and value for money in Ghana’s infrastructure sector despite slight improvement over the 2021 baseline measurement.
Fundraising Manager at Transparency International Ghana Michael Kwame Boadi said the 2024 score marks progress but remains discouraging, emphasizing that the index serves as a critical tool to strengthen processes in the corruption plagued infrastructure sector. He stressed that without providing access to infrastructure data, government cannot claim accountability or inclusive governance.
The ITI examines four key dimensions including quality of the enabling environment, citizen participation, information transparency and management processes. Ghana performed relatively well in the enabling environment category with 60.90 percent, reflecting robust laws governing the sector. However, the country scored 34.14 percent in information disclosure, 26.35 percent in citizen participation and 25.45 percent in capacities and processes.
According to Boadi, having laws in place does not guarantee achieving objectives for which they were established.
The low scores indicate a systemic gap between policy frameworks and actual implementation on the ground. The report shows that while legal structures exist to support transparency, translating these provisions into effective, open and compliant action remains a significant challenge for procuring entities across government.
Minister of State for Public Sector Reforms Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba acknowledged the low ranking while expressing government commitment to improvement. She set an ambitious target for the administration, declaring that Ghana aims to overtake Costa Rica rather than simply match its 66.95 percent score used as a comparison benchmark.
Akanvariba linked Ghana’s poor performance to flawed tender processes where cronyism has often trumped transparency requirements. She criticized practices where personal relationships determine contract awards rather than competitive processes, stating that friends and cronies should not receive contracts through behind the scenes arrangements.
The minister asserted that the current Mahama led administration is moving away from controversial sole sourcing practices that have long been criticized for lacking competition and oversight. She confirmed that government flagship Big Push infrastructure projects will be advertised for open tendering on the Public Procurement Authority website.
Akanvariba emphasized the critical importance of robust road infrastructure to economic prosperity, arguing that the current state of Ghana’s road network is damaging the entire system. She illustrated the economic cost by describing how a foreign investor traveling from Accra to Bolgatanga for mining operations must endure 12 to 16 hours of difficult travel conditions.
The Infrastructure Transparency Index was first conducted in 2021 as a subnational pilot in the Western Region. After a three year hiatus, the second assessment covering the entire nation was completed in 2024. The index will henceforth be conducted biennially, with the next assessment scheduled for 2026.
Boadi stressed that leaving no one behind requires including citizens in infrastructure governance and making data accessible. He argued that without citizen participation and information transparency, government falls short on accountability commitments regardless of stated intentions or policy declarations.
The assessment methodology focuses on measuring how transparent, participatory and accountable public infrastructure delivery systems function at both national and subnational levels. It provides structured, evidence based evaluation of how effectively governments and procuring entities disclose, manage and use infrastructure data throughout project lifecycles.
The enabling environment dimension examines foundational legal and regulatory frameworks that underpin transparency in infrastructure projects. This includes robustness of public information access laws and transparency standards specific to infrastructure development and procurement processes.
The capacities and processes dimension evaluates whether public institutions possess necessary organizational capabilities, procedures and resources to implement transparent practices throughout infrastructure project lifecycles. Ghana’s particularly low score of 25.45 percent in this category highlights challenges in digital procurement systems, contract supervision and internal institutional coordination.
Information disclosure measures how effectively procuring entities publish comprehensive data across all project phases from planning through completion. Citizen participation assesses opportunities for public engagement in infrastructure decisions and whether feedback mechanisms exist to incorporate community input into project design and implementation.
Ghana’s overall score places the nation among countries requiring substantial reforms to meet international transparency standards in infrastructure governance. The gap between legal frameworks and practical implementation suggests that enforcement mechanisms and institutional capacity building represent priority areas for improvement.
The report arrives as government prepares to launch major infrastructure initiatives under the Big Push agenda. Minister Akanvariba’s commitment to open tendering processes for these flagship projects will test whether stated transparency goals translate into measurable improvements in procurement practices.
Transparency International Ghana and CoST Ghana developed the assessment to provide government, private sector and civil society stakeholders with clear understanding of relative strengths and weaknesses in infrastructure governance. The partnership aims to enhance transparency, accountability and citizen participation in Ghana’s infrastructure sector through evidence based advocacy and policy recommendations.
The biennial assessment schedule allows tracking of progress over time and creates accountability mechanism for measuring whether reforms produce tangible improvements in transparency indicators. Stakeholders emphasized that sustained collaboration across government, private sector and civil society will be essential to translating assessment findings into meaningful improvements in infrastructure delivery.
