BRICS won’t be a magic wand for Ghana; corruption and irregularities in public finances pose a threat

The government of Ghana under President John Dramani Mahama has applied to join BRICS as a partner. The country’s Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa argues that the decision forms part of the government’s efforts to expand Ghana’s economic options and diversify its international partnerships. “The major highlight, which I am disclosing to the Ghanaian people for the first time, is that the Cabinet of President John Dramani Mahama has decided that Ghana will be joining BRICS,” he said. Ablakwa and many government officials express the view that Ghana’s membership of the bloc, which brings together major emerging economies, could provide the country with alternative economic and diplomatic partnerships. We believe that joining India in BRICS will give us economic options, will diversify our base and our partnerships, and will also allow us to have more cooperation within the Global South framework, as far as South-South engagements are concerned. This announcement by the Foreign Affairs Minister’s signalled Ghana’s intention to deepen its engagement with emerging economies as the government seeks to broaden the country’s international economic partnerships. BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and seeks to strengthen economic, political and diplomatic cooperation among its members. Therefore, partnering with BRICS may open new economic avenues for Ghana, including trade diversification, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and alternative development financing. Ghana already enjoys excellent relations with the BRICS member countries. Therefore, it will be joining natural allies in a bloc that arguably is the largest trading bloc today. But there are some concerns that need to be addressed. Ghana risks becoming a market for powerful BRICS economies and exposing its natural resources to further exploitation without a clear industrial strategy. While joining BRICS could expand Ghana’s trade and investment opportunities, the natural resource-rich West African country may end up benefiting less than industrial giants such as China, India, Brazil and Russia. BRICS brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. It will therefore serve as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global, as well as regional significance, and issues of global political and economic governance. Concerns were also raised that this decision will affect Ghana’s relations with its traditional partner countries who have ideological differences with the BRICS member countries. However, Ghanaian authorities explain that the decision affirms Ghana’s policy of non-alignment, which enabled President Kwame Nkrumah, at the height of the Cold War, to navigate the terrain to secure the support of the United States to build the Akosombo Dam, while at the same time getting the then Soviet Union (Russia) to launch Africa’s pioneering atomic energy programme, the Ghana Nuclear Reactor Project (GNRP). Despite the optimism, the point ought to be made that joining BRICS will not be a magic wand for Ghana’s economic problems. Corruption There are several factors that will not include corruption. Corruption poses a grave threat to the stability, development, and integrity of Ghanaian society. It deprives the country of the needed development. To that end, if Ghana is to really benefit from joining BRICS, effort will have to be made to fight corruption. If expatriate investors come into the country as a result of BRICS membership, yet they are subjected to corruption practices in business registration and work permits, these businesses will eventually get frustrated and exit the country. Recently, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) indicated that Ghana loses more than US$3 billion every year through corruption. According to the NCCE, the resources lost through corruption could instead be invested in infrastructure, job creation and essential services, where the demand for development remains high. This comment highlights the point that in order for BRICS membership to fully benefit Ghana, corruption will have to be addressed. It is for this reason also that the Office of the Special Prosecutor advocates the efficacy of investigations and prosecutions in curbing corruption. The OSP also recognises that transforming Ghana’s culture of corruption requires a comprehensive, large-scale prevention programme. The Office, as mandated by Section 2(c) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), is dedicated to taking proactive measures to prevent corruption. Poor management of public finances The other threats to the benefits of BRICS are issues with irregularities in the public financial system in Ghana, as captured in the Auditor-General’s reports. Recently, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlighted GH₡5.2 billion in irregularities, with GH₡4.8 billion on tax infractions recorded in the 2025 audit report. The committee’s chair, Abena Osei-Asare, expressed concern about the recurrence of similar audit findings involving public institutions, and said such development gave a clear indication that MDAs were not learning their lessons. “If the same institution is cited repeatedly for the same control failure, then we are no longer dealing with just audit findings; we are dealing with a failure to learn,” she pointed out. The irregularities in the public finances have been prevalent and appear in the auditors’ general reports year in and year out. The issues seem unresolved because surcharges are unpaid. Abena Osei-Asare says a total of GH¢280.5 million in surcharges following audit reports remains unpaid. Information from the Audit Service showed that GH¢280.5 million in surcharges remained uncollected. About GH¢57.2 million had been collected through the Auditor-General’s recovery accounts since 2022, as of February 2026. Definitely, if issues in public finance management aren’t resolved, the benefits of BRICS will be an illusion to the government and the people of Ghana. Because the revenues that will accrue from the FDIs may not be properly accounted for by the state agencies. Stronger internal controls across public institutions to prevent financial irregularities and safeguard public funds will be key in ensuring the benefits of BRICS partnership are realised. Effective internal auditing was critical to ensuring that public resources were properly managed and channelled into development priorities under the government’s New Economy agenda. Geopolitical concerns Concerns are that Ghana’s attempt to join BRICS will affect Ghana’s relations with its traditional partner countries who have ideological differences with the BRICS member countries. The question is, is BRICS’s partnering status a means for a safe pragmatic stepping stone for a balanced foreign policy, diversifying the economy or just for a half-measure that lacks real decision-making power? Hence, will this move by Ghana damage its established sources of loans, grants/Aids from the Western Bloc/ International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank and access to Western Markets of the USA (especially AGOA) and the markets of the European Union for her products, which are needed by the thousands of Ghanaians, other Africans, and offspring of Africans in the Western Countries and Countries of their allies? There are also the Constitutional and Historical Questions, which Ghana needs to take note of in its attempt to join BRICS. Ghana needs to take note of Article 40 of the 1992 Constitution, which guides Ghana’s foreign policy to promote and protect national interests and Ghana’s historical non-alignment policy, which saw President Kwame Nkrumah’s historical playbook of non-alignment by balancing ties with the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, which saw Ghana obtaining financial and technical support from the West, especially the USA, for projects like the Akosombo Dam and its early nuclear cooperation with the East. So, the real litmus test is: when Ghana is granted the Partner Status, can Ghana use the platform of the BRICS to transform its raw exports into localised industrial capacity without burning bridges with traditional Western financiers. About BRICS BRICS is an international organisation currently comprising ten countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Its conceptual origins were articulated by Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov in 1998, and can be traced to informal forums and dialogue groups such as RIC (Russia, India, and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa). BRIC was originally a term coined by British economist Jim O’Neill, and later championed by his employer Goldman Sachs in 2001, to designate a group of emerging markets. The bloc’s inaugural summit was held in 2009 and featured the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China; they adopted the acronym BRIC and formed an informal diplomatic group where their governments could meet annually at formal summits and coordinate multilateral policies. South Africa joined the organisation in September 2010, which was then renamed BRICS, and attended the third summit in 2011 as a full member. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as member states in 2024 in Russia. Indonesia officially joined in early 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member. Saudi Arabia was invited to the Johannesburg summit, and it is considered part of the organisation, but has not publicly confirmed its membership. The term BRICS+ has been informally used to reflect new membership since 2024. Collectively, BRICS comprises more than a quarter of the global economy and nearly half the world’s population.