Time for transparency in Ghana’s energy sector: Show us the data

One of the most essential lessons in any field is the need to look past compelling narratives and focus on underlying fundamentals. The same rigor must be applied when assessing the performance of any entity, especially one funded by the Ghanaian taxpayer.

We have recently been presented with a qualitative story—a narrative of “improvement” in the energy sector. But a story, however appealing, is not an analysis. In the absence of quantitative data, it is merely an assertion. This should be a significant red flag for any prudent observer.

When we are asked to accept a conclusion without being shown the quality of the work, we are being asked to substitute faith for diligence. As the primary stakeholders in this public venture, we are entitled to perform our own due diligence.

Therefore, the request for data is not cynical; it is the absolute minimum requirement for intelligent assessment. To evaluate any claim of progress and its quality, we must be provided with, at a minimum:

 1) The Inherited Baseline: What was the precise starting point? We need the initial conditions, measured by a consistent set of key performance indicators.

 2) The Delivery Against Metrics: What have the results been, period over period, against those same indicators, since taking charge?

 3) The Resulting Trajectory: The data, taken together, will describe a trend line.

Ultimately, the health of Ghana’s energy sector cannot be measured by the quality of its narrative, but only by the integrity of its numbers. To withhold the data—the baseline, the metrics, the trajectory—is to ask the nation to trade diligence for dependence and to build its future on a foundation of faith rather than fact.

True progress requires no such insulation from reality. The numbers do not have an agenda; they simply reflect a state of affairs. We, the citizens of Ghana, are not asking for a better story. We are demanding the right to read the ledger for ourselves.

By Sitsofe Mensah 

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