The Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Addah, has called for a multi-stakeholder collaboration to enhance transparency and accountability in the country’s public infrastructure development sector. 

She said infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and water supply systems were not mere physical structures but enablers of economic growth, social equity, and improvement of livelihoods.

For them to deliver fully, they must be planned, executed and managed transparently, the executive director added.

“Unfortunately, the governance of public infrastructure in the country faces serious challenges, including project cost overruns, delays, abandoned projects and cases of mismanagement.

“Transparency is not just an ideal, it is a necessity. It is a powerful tool that promotes accountability, efficiency and public trust in infrastructure delivery,” Mrs Addah said.

She, therefore, urged government institutions to commit to proactively disclosing infrastructure data and also ensuring proper oversight of projects.

The private sector must also uphold ethical procurement and construction standards while civil society, the media and citizens continue to hold duty-bearers accountable to ensure infrastructure investments benefit all.

Event 
Mrs Addah was speaking at a national-level Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI) survey commissioning workshop in Accra yesterday.

The survey, led by CoST Sekondi-Takoradi, in partnership with the GII, uses various methods to assess and measure the level of transparency, accountability and integrity in the nation’s infrastructure sector.

The day’s workshop evaluated how well the government and stakeholders disclosed, managed and oversaw infrastructure projects to ensure they were free from corruption and inefficiency.

Among the participants were CSOs, members of academia, policy analysts and officials from state agencies from roads, works and housing, health and public procurement sectors.

Issues discussed included the introduction of the ITI framework (overview, objectives, methodology and core dimensions), building stakeholder awareness, fostering collaborations and establishing an implementation plan for the survey.

Strengthening legislation

The Executive Director of CoST Sekondi-Takoradi, Isaac Aidoo, explained that the survey, which was based on international best practices, would not only enable stakeholders to assess, compare and enhance transparency, participation and accountability in infrastructure development, but also serve as a diagnostic tool to assess and strengthen the operationalisation of key legislation.

“These include the Public Procurement Act, 2003 and its Amendment Act, 2026 (Act 914); the Local Governance Act (Act 936); the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), and the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989),” he said.

Mr Aidoo further said that the comprehensive evaluation aligned with the country’s commitment to an Open Government Partnership (OGP) and its efforts to promote open contracting and proactive disclosures to engender citizen trust and confidence in the delivery of public infrastructure.