President John Dramani Mahama has called for a significant increase in investment in research and development, saying Ghana should be spending about GH₵6 billion annually to meet the African Union’s target and drive long-term economic transformation.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana National Research Fund at the Labadi Beach Hotel on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, President Mahama stressed that research and innovation are no longer optional but critical tools for national development, competitiveness and economic sovereignty.
According to him, countries can no longer rely solely on natural resources or access to capital to achieve sustainable growth.
“In the 21st century, nations can no longer compete solely on the basis of natural resources, geographical advantage, or access to capital. Nations must compete on ideas. They must compete on innovation. They must compete on the ability to transform knowledge into productivity and productivity into prosperity for their people,” he said.
The President noted that the African Union recommends member states invest at least one percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in research and development. However, he observed that Ghana’s current legal framework falls short of that target.
“The African Union’s target of investing at least one percent of GDP in research and development must be viewed not merely as a spending target, but as a strategy for competitiveness, productivity and ultimately sovereignty,” he stated.
“Unfortunately, Act 1056 is contrary to the AU target. We capped at not more than 0.5 percent of GDP. So already we are misaligned with the AU target, and we need to look at that.”
President Mahama explained that based on Ghana’s expanding GDP, the country should be investing approximately GH₵6 billion annually in research.
“If you take Ghana’s expanding GDP, from 2024 it was 88 billion. Now it is 114 billion. One percent of 114 billion means we should be investing about 600 million dollars or six billion cedis every year in research,” he said.
He clarified that government alone is not expected to shoulder the entire burden, stressing the need for support from development partners and the private sector.
“Nobody says Ghana should provide all that money. With our international partners, we should be able to raise sufficient funds. But we must start somewhere,” he added.
As an initial step, President Mahama announced an immediate allocation of GH₵100 million to support the operational launch of the Ghana National Research Fund in 2026.
“I am pleased to announce an immediate catalytic allocation of 100 million cedis to support the operational launch of the Ghana National Research Fund for 2026,” he announced.
The President said the funding would support competitive national research grants, doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, digital grants management systems, strategic innovation initiatives and priority research projects aligned with Ghana’s development agenda.
He argued that Ghana cannot achieve industrial transformation while underinvesting in knowledge creation and innovation.
“Ghana cannot aspire to industrial transformation while underinvesting in knowledge creation,” he said.
President Mahama noted that Ghanaian researchers have continued to produce impactful work despite limited resources, fragmented funding and reliance on externally driven research priorities.
He said the establishment of the Ghana National Research Fund is intended to address these challenges and support research that solves practical problems in agriculture, healthcare, governance, climate resilience and industrial development.
“The objective is not simply to produce more research. The objective is to produce research that solves problems, informs policy, creates jobs, strengthens industries and improves the lives of Ghanaians,” he emphasized.
The President also challenged universities, research institutions and scientists to pursue breakthrough innovations that can be commercialised and scaled to support national development.
“Our objective is not simply to publish more papers. Our objective is to solve more problems,” he said.
President Mahama expressed confidence that sustained investment in research would strengthen Ghana’s productivity, competitiveness and capacity to develop local solutions to national challenges.
“The future belongs to nations capable of generating their own solutions to their challenges. Ghana must be one of those nations,” he added.
Source: Mubarak Yakubu
