The founding president and CEO of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has proposed a radical approach to governance reform aimed at tackling Ghana’s entrenched public financial mismanagement.

Speaking at the National Economic Dialogue in Accra, he introduced what he called the RESET Challenge— Revitalising the Economy through Stewardship & Ethical Transformation — a model designed to inject transparency, accountability, and intrinsic motivation into public service.

“The current approach to governance in Ghana is a broken machine running on outdated controls and suffocating bureaucracy. We need a system that promotes stewardship rather than just tightens bureaucratic nooses,” Mr Cudjoe declared.

He argued that Ghana’s political culture has trapped public officials in a cycle of self-preservation, where they manipulate the system for personal gain rather than serve the national interest.

The RESET model, he explained, is built on five key principles aimed at fostering ethical leadership:

1. Ministers and Chief Directors will voluntarily sign onto a transparent governance framework outlining a clear sectoral vision.

2. They will commit to radical transparency and open data policies to allow for public scrutiny.

3. They will host bi-weekly town halls—both virtual and physical—where all procurement, performance metrics, and policy decisions are openly discussed.

4. Citizens who participate will be enrolled into a stakeholder group that will provide continuous feedback on governance.

5. Every six months, public officials will be evaluated based on their performance and engagement.

“Our hope is that this will invigorate the current PFM controls and bring them to life in a way that makes them meaningful to citizens,” Franklin Cudjoe explained.

Read also: The governance albatross in public financial management: Time to consider the stewardship model?

IMANI’s proposal also seeks to ensure that public accountability is driven by public officials’ own patriotic ambition rather than external pressure or fear of audits.

“This is not just another government oversight mechanism. It is designed to be powered by the moral imagination of our public officials—those who truly desire to leave a legacy of progress,” he said.

Mr Cudjoe acknowledged that Ghana cannot entirely discard traditional oversight mechanisms, but he insisted that RESET would complement and enhance them.

“Naturally, this model will not replace the formal audits and PFM controls. But our hope is that it will infuse them with new energy, making governance more human-centered rather than purely bureaucratic,” he explained.

IMANI’s stewardship model, Cudjoe argued, is particularly crucial in a political landscape where partisanship and patronage have compromised decision-making.

“We have reached a stage where large partisan groupings actively lobby for public resources, disregarding national priorities. Our governance system must be built to withstand such sectional pressures,” he warned.

He also revealed that IMANI had previously experimented with a public sector leadership award, but found that traditional award schemes did not effectively boost intrinsic motivation.

“That was too top-down. RESET, on the other hand, is designed to be an organic system where public officials hold themselves accountable,” he explained.

Ending his presentation, Cudjoe challenged policymakers and the public to engage in the conversation and refine the RESET model.

“Join us in refining this idea or design your own even better stewardship model. But one thing is clear—Ghana cannot continue with business as usual. We must RESET governance if we are to secure the future of this nation,” he concluded.