President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that the majority of contractors selected for project contracts under the government’s Big Push initiative are Ghanaians.

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Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony at the Dodowa-Afienya road project on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, the president explained that the decision to select Ghanaian contractors was aimed at empowering them.

He said the goal is to enhance their capacity and performance, which he believes are at par with foreign-based contractors.

“Majority of the contractors selected for the Big Push are Ghanaian contractors because we believe that we must build the capacity of our own contractors. We believe in the performance and ingenuity of the Ghanaian contractor. Several of our contractors have the same capacity as any foreign contractor, that is why we have selected them,” President Mahama explained.

“There are a few wheelbarrow contractors who have come to me saying they have heard we're distributing projects under the Big Push and hence they want one. I said to them, my friend, this is not for wheelbarrow contractors. You are my friend, but I won't give it to you because it's not for wheelbarrow contractors,” he stated.

President Mahama added that, although the majority of the selected contractors are Ghanaians, a few foreign contractors were also included.

He explained that these foreign contractors had ongoing contracts that have not been terminated.

According to him, such ongoing projects have been incorporated into the Big Push initiative and repackaged to ensure their completion.

“We also have selected a few foreign contractors because before we came into office, some of the contractors had been given active contracts and the contracts had not been completed.

“So, what we've done is that even though those projects were ongoing, we have repackaged them and added them to the Big Push initiative so that we can continue them [projects] and finish them quickly,” he said.

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The Big Push initiative is an initiative aimed at significantly improving national connectivity and economic development.

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