Are all profit-making state-owned enterprises during Mahama’s government making losses now?

Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has claimed that all profit-making state-owned enterprises during the NDC administration are making losses under the administration of Nana Akufo-Addo. 

He made this claim on April 15, 2024, when he addressed a durbar of chiefs at Kambatiak in Bunkpurugu in the North East Region as part of his building Ghana tour. 

Fact-Check Ghana has verified the former president’s claim and presents the facts below.

Claim: “Today every sector is in trouble. All the state-owned enterprises that were making profits under the NDC administration today all of them are making losses.”

Verdict: False

Explanation:

John Mahama concluded his building Ghana tour in the North East Region, where he criticised the government. While highlighting the unfulfilled promises of the Akufo-Addo government, he mentioned that all state-owned enterprises that were making profits during his administration were making losses. 

To verify this claim, Fact-Check Ghana compiled data from the State Enterprises Report which the Ministry of Finance and the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) produce annually to assess the financial and operational performances of State-owned enterprises. The latest State Enterprises Report was released in 2020.  

While checks by the team revealed that some state-owned enterprises that were making profits during the erstwhile John Mahama government are no longer profitable, some others are still making profits as of 2020. 

After tallying data from 2015 to 2020, the table below shows the state-owned enterprises making profits under the tenure of both John Mahama and Akufo-Addo.

Source: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020  State Enterprises Report

From the table above, the claim by John Mahama that all state-owned enterprises that were generating profits during the NDC’s tenure are now making losses is false.