ASEC WELCOMES PRESIDENT MAHAMA'S ENERGY COMMITMENTS IN 2026 SONA—BUT WARNS THE HARD WORK STARTS NOW

The Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC) has reviewed President John Dramani Mahama's 2026 State of the Nation Address and commends its recognition of energy security and climate resilience as pillars of national recovery. However, ASEC cautions that several of the sector's most stubborn structural problems — ones with direct consequences for jobs, industry, and Ghana's green future — require bolder action than the Address currently signals.

Delivered on 27 February 2026, the State of the Nation Address came at a genuinely significant moment for Ghana. After years of fiscal turbulence, the country has brought inflation down from a peak of 54.1% to single digits, stabilised the cedi, and rebuilt foreign reserves to $13.8 billion. President Mahama rightly highlighted the landmark $1.47 billion clearance of accumulated energy sector debts, a settlement that ended years of paralysis for independent power producers and gas suppliers and that ASEC has long called for.

These are real achievements that deserve recognition. But as the President himself acknowledged, the task is not just stabilisation. It is a transformation. And on that front, ASEC believes the Address, while directionally sound, leaves several critical questions unanswered.

On Electricity Tariffs: Clearing Debt Is Not the Same as Fixing the System

The SONA celebrated the debt settlement as a turning point for the power sector. ASEC agrees it was necessary. What was not addressed is the structural reason tariffs keep rising, and why Ghanaian industry now pays close to $0.16 per kilowatt-hour while factories in Vietnam and China pay $0.07. The Electricity Company of Ghana is currently losing up to 32% of all the power it distributes, the highest rate in over two decades. Until that loss is stopped through smart metering, concession-based distribution reform, and serious enforcement, every debt settlement will be followed by another round of tariff increases. The Address did not speak to this.

ASEC urges the government to place distribution reform, not new state-owned generation capacity, at the centre of its power sector agenda. We also call for the immediate introduction of an Independence Tariff: the full zero-rating of duties and VAT on solar panels, inverters, and battery storage, so that businesses can invest in their own energy security without waiting for the grid to catch up.

On Oil Revenue: The SONA's Optimism Must Be Grounded in Reality

The Address referenced infrastructure investment and a National Petroleum Revitalisation Strategy. What it did not say plainly is that Ghana's oil production fell by 15% in 2025, with petroleum receipts dropping by 35.7% year-on-year. The Jubilee and TEN fields are maturing, and a decade of underinvestment in new exploration is now showing up as a real production and revenue shortfall. Infrastructure programmes funded by oil money, including major market construction and agricultural enclave roads, are at genuine risk if this trajectory is not reversed.

ASEC welcomes GNPC's new technical partnerships with Petrobras and Sonatrach and sees them as the right instinct. But the revitalisation strategy must come with transparent licensing. The recent award of a major offshore block to a company with a thin operational record is exactly the kind of opacity that has set Ghana back before. The government must publish the NPRS for public review and hold itself to it.

On Climate Action: Ghana Is a Continental Leader — and Must Protect That Position

One of the SONA's most consequential omissions was its failure to address carbon markets. Ghana is, quietly, Africa's most advanced operator in the Article 6.2 framework under the Paris Agreement, with binding agreements already in place with Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, and South Korea, and projections of over $1 billion in carbon revenue by 2030. This is a genuine competitive advantage that deserves presidential airtime, investment, and protection.

At the same time, ASEC notes a tension in the Address that must be honestly confronted: the abolition of the Emission Tax removes Ghana's only domestic carbon-pricing tool at a time when the world is paying closer attention to carbon governance. The replacement of a GH¢1 fuel levy shifts the burden onto logistics and agriculture without providing a credible green revenue pathway. ASEC calls on the Ministry of Finance to develop a domestic climate finance strategy that does not depend entirely on international grants and bilateral carbon deals.

The GH¢401 million Women's Development Bank, referenced in the Address, is also an important piece of this picture. Women in rural Ghana bear the sharpest edges of energy poverty and climate change. If this institution is properly integrated into the Green Finance Taxonomy with dedicated lending for solar, clean cooking, and agro-processing, it can be one of the most effective tools for a just energy transition that the government has launched in years.

On Galamsey: The Right Rhetoric Needs the Right Strategy

The President's language on illegal mining was some of the strongest in the Address, pledging to go after the financiers, not just the miners. ASEC agrees that the political economy of galamsey has never been honestly confronted. But the history of this crisis shows that enforcement alone, however well-intentioned, has not solved it. The removal of the 1.5% withholding tax on small-scale gold sales, at a time when gold prices exceeded $4,100 per troy ounce, resulted in a significant revenue loss that the Address did not account for. Reinstating that tax, formalising artisanal mining cooperatives, and redirecting royalties into local green agriculture are the kinds of structural tools that can actually change the incentive structure for rural communities. Without them, the cycle continues.

The 2026 State of the Nation Address marks a genuine moment of macroeconomic recovery for Ghana, and we do not take that lightly. What ASEC is asking is that the same discipline and political will that brought inflation under control now be applied to the structural reforms the energy sector needs.