This Saturday on Newsfile, we take a hard look at three issues at the heart of Ghana’s economic security, public infrastructure and everyday life: the state of the power sector, GoldBod’s financial and operational performance, and the growing threat galamsey poses to the water we drink.

Another nationwide power outage has once again raised concerns about the resilience of Ghana’s electricity supply system.

With GRIDCo pointing to a major fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line, questions are growing over whether the latest disruption is an isolated technical failure or evidence of deeper weaknesses within the power sector.

What is the true state of Ghana’s electricity infrastructure? Is the challenge generation, transmission, distribution, or all three? And after repeated system disturbances, what have investigations actually established?

As government continues to spend heavily to keep the energy sector running, can Ghana build a power system that is reliable, financially sustainable and capable of meeting the country’s growing demand?

Then comes the debate over GoldBod’s financial and operational performance. GoldBod says its audited 2025 accounts demonstrate strong performance, including a substantial surplus. Yet figures associated with the wider gold-for-reserves programme have generated controversy, with the IMF reporting significant losses linked to the Bank of Ghana’s domestic gold purchase operations.

Are these figures being wrongly attributed to GoldBod? What exactly is the difference between GoldBod’s own financial performance and the cost of the broader gold-for-reserves policy? If GoldBod is profitable while the wider programme records major losses, who ultimately bears those losses?

And, most importantly, has Ghana’s gold-for-reserves strategy delivered enough benefits in foreign-exchange stability and reserve accumulation to justify its costs?

And as Ghana debates the value of its gold, another national resource is quietly being placed under increasing pressure: water. Illegal mining continues to pollute rivers and increase turbidity, placing enormous pressure on water treatment plants and threatening the sustainability of some of Ghana’s most important water sources.

Ghana Water Limited maintains that it can treat polluted raw water to produce potable water, but serious questions remain about the quality of the raw water entering treatment plants and the availability of transparent, independently verifiable water-quality data. What happens when turbidity and pollution levels rise beyond the normal capacity of treatment systems?

Are consumers being given enough information about the quality of the water reaching their taps? Beyond turbidity, what do the tests show about heavy metals, mercury, cyanide and other contaminants associated with illegal mining? And with galamsey continuing to destroy the very rivers on which communities depend, how long can Ghana guarantee safe and affordable drinking water?

Three issues, but one fundamental question: can Ghanaians trust the systems responsible for keeping the lights on, protecting the nation’s gold wealth and ensuring the safety of the water they drink?

This Saturday on Newsfile, we examine the facts, interrogate the numbers and challenge the official explanations. If it’s Saturday, it’s Newsfile.

Join Samson Lardy Anyenini and his panel this Saturday at 8 a.m. on JoyNews and MyJoyOnline for the facts, the arguments, and the questions Ghana must confront.