Dr Opong-Fosu was speaking at the Crossfire Governance and leadership Public lectures Series in Accra.

The event was on the theme: “Conversation on Resetting the Nation.”

He said the Reset Agenda, as articulated and led by President John Dramani Mahama, was now a national project.

It is aimed at renewal of institutions, restoration of values, belief systems, and citizen engagement.
He said the Agenda was a deliberate shift from a broken status quo toward a people-centred, ethical, and developmental state.

The Governace Expert said Ghana needed visionary leaders with integrity, conviction, and compassion in the public space, including political, traditional, religious, business, and civil society to transform the nation.

He said governments must engage, listen, and act, adding that the Reset had called for open and accountable government, decentralisation of power, and economic policy design shaped by citizens’ realities.

“We called for a neutral, efficient, and accountable public sector free from political manipulation and grounded in performance and integrity,” he added.
He said it must include reform of procurement, political financing, asset declaration, and strong enforcement mechanisms.

Dr Opong-Fosu said economic policies must empower the poor, support the vulnerable, and promote broad-based wealth creation.

He said division based on ethnicity and partisanship had torn the country’s fabric and the Reset must embrace equity, fairness, and unity as its moral and strategic compass.
He said education must cultivate civic-minded, creative, and critical-thinking citizens and the curricula should reflect the country’s development needs and national identity.

“I have proposed a National Institutional Renewal Commission (NIRC) designed to restructure and revitalize state institutions, unethical conduct, and restore trust,” he added.

Dr Opong-Fosu said the government and citizens must co-author a new compact anchored in rights, duties, transparency, and accountability and “we cannot reset Ghana without independent watchdogs.”

The Governance Expert said the media and civil society must be guardians of accountability not accomplices of self-serving leadership and politics of individualism, materialism and impunity.