Big Push to Nowhere

The government’s freshly minted “Big Push” infrastructure agenda was rolled out with fanfare this week, promising billions of cedis in new projects to transform Ghana’s fortunes. On paper, it sounds bold—GH¢13.9 billion in 2025, scaling up to GH¢21.2 billion by 2028, with investments in roads, energy, digital infrastructure, and urban development. It is being pitched as the masterstroke to close Ghana’s massive infrastructure gap.

But Ghana’s real problem has never been the absence of “big pushes.” From Vision 2020 to GYEEDA, from SADA to One District, One Factory, governments have all promised transformative leaps—only to leave behind half-built projects, debt piles, and more disillusioned citizens. Infrastructure may be a visible vote-winner, but it is not a shortcut to structural transformation.

The hard truth is this: no amount of shiny new highways or digital centers will move Ghana forward if the fundamentals remain broken. With over 80% of the economy trapped in the informal sector, millions of Ghanaians barely subsist in unproductive micro-enterprises. Galamsey continues to poison our rivers and destroy farmland, setting up a looming public health crisis that no amount of road asphalt can pave over. Wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a small political-business elite, while corruption drains resources meant for development.

The Big Push risks becoming a massive cash pipeline—feeding contractors, greasing party coffers, and adding layers of debt—without addressing the real bottlenecks holding Ghana back. Worse, it could destabilize the economy further. Infrastructure drives imports, drains foreign exchange, and weakens the cedi. If history is any guide, the outcome will be spiraling depreciation, cost overruns, and another round of IMF bailouts.

What Ghana needs is not another “push” but a “reset”; as we were promised. A new economic model that organizes and energizes the informal sector, incentivizes productivity, and drives real industrial clusters around cocoa, gold, and oil. A model that places innovation—not extractive rents—at the heart of growth. Without that foundation, the Big Push is destined to collapse under the weight of its contradictions.

The lesson is simple: you cannot build skyscrapers on quicksand. If the government insists on charging ahead without fixing the ground beneath, the “Big Push” will once again push Ghanaians deeper into poverty and economic stagnation.