Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, has raised critical concerns about the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA) initiative, an ambitious program launched during former President Akufo-Addo’s administration to chart a course toward economic self-reliance.
His remarks underscored a glaring lack of transparency, accountability, and progress reporting on the initiative, which once promised to redefine Ghana’s developmental trajectory.
“I always found certain things strange about the program. Both small and big things. For instance, the image chosen to illustrate Ghana ‘beyond aid’ concept was that of downtown Nairobi”.
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
Bright Simons revealed that after two months of searching, he has yet to find the final report of the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative. This absence mirrors the initiative’s lack of an inception or baseline report at its launch, apart from scant data tables in the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter.
According to Bright Simons, this omission raises significant concerns about the program’s commitment to accountability and its legacy.
The renowned policy analyst further expressed disappointment that the Secretary of the 13-member GBA Committee, who also served as Technical Advisor to the controversial Petroleum Hub project by the previous administration, has not published any progress reports.
He noted that this silence from the committee fuels skepticism about whether any meaningful steps were taken to achieve the program’s stated goals.
Dubious Priorities and Unrealized Targets
Bright Simons critiqued the program’s emphasis on reducing grants (free money) rather than foreign loans, questioning the logic of targeting free resources while maintaining a reliance on debt.
For Bright Simons, equally troubling is the program’s failure to meet specific targets, citing that for instance, Ghana was to reduce per diems and allowances for civil servants attending donor-funded workshops by 2020.
However, Bright Simons noted that no steps were taken toward this goal, raising doubts about the program’s sincerity and capacity to deliver.
“Some of the goals are hard to quarrel with. For instance, the portion of exports that is made up of manufactured goods is meant to double by 2028 from 2017 levels.
“The average income of Ghanaians is also meant to more than double by the same timeline. 70% of Ghanaian households should have their own homes by the same 2028. Nice.”
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
The IMANI’s Honorary Vice President lamented the absence of progress tracking, asserting that by 2023, passport applicants were supposed to receive passports within two weeks yet, there is no evidence of the committee monitoring or ensuring these outcomes.
Economic Realities and Missed Opportunities
Bright Simons provided a stark assessment of Ghana’s economic trajectory since the launch of the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative, arguing that key indicators paint a grim picture.
According to him, capital investment as a share of GDP, which stood at 17.4% when the program began, has plummeted to below 11%, far from the 32% target for 2028. This decline, he argued, signifies a nation consuming its resources rather than investing in growth.
Bright Simons concluded by urging the Secretary of the GBA Committee to at least publish a final report to provide clarity on the program’s outcomes and lessons learned. Such a report, he argued, is essential to evaluating the initiative’s impact and identifying gaps for future policy improvements.
The 13-member GBA Committee was chaired by Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, former Senior Minister, and included notable figures such as Ken Ofori-Atta, former Finance Minister; Ignatius Baffour Awuah, former Labour Minister; and Prof. Gyan-Baffour, former Planning Minister.
There were also Hon. Hajia Alima Mahama, former Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, former Minister for Information, Dr Yaw Ansu, former Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Dr Eric Yeboah, former Senior Researcher/Land Policy Advisor, Office of the Senior Minister, who was a Member and Secretary to the committee.
Other members represented key stakeholder groups, including the private sector, labor unions, and student bodies.
Despite the diverse expertise and representation on the committee, the absence of tangible outcomes and progress reports reflects a critical failure in governance and oversight.
Bright Simons’ critique of the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative serves as a sobering reminder of the need for transparency and accountability in national development programs.
As Ghana faces mounting economic challenges, the unanswered questions surrounding this flagship initiative highlight the importance of learning from past missteps to chart a more effective and inclusive path forward.
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