President John Dramani Mahama has called for a transformative “reset” across Africa, emphasizing the need for innovative approaches to development and resource management.
Speaking at the launch of the Accra Reset initiative during the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mahama framed the effort as a response to outdated global governance models that fail to adequately support the most vulnerable populations.
The initiative, themed “Accra Reset: Reimagining Global Governance for Health and Development”, highlights Africa’s responsibility to lead its own progress.
“A lot of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Africa itself. We need a reset in our countries,” President Mahama stated. “In Ghana, we have started our resets. And the resets focuses on the fact that we can re-channel resources into areas of priority. We have a national health insurance levy. And the levy funds the national health insurance scheme. And more than 18 million Ghanaians have national health insurance cards that allow them access to free healthcare at the point of service. They pay a little annual premium. Now, the government before capped this fund, all statutory funds actually.”
The President stressed that this model of rechanneling resources from lower-priority areas to sectors that directly benefit citizens demonstrates the type of innovative thinking needed across the continent.
He called on African governments to adopt similar approaches to maximize impact and strengthen public services.
Addressing global leaders, diplomats, and multilateral organizations, Mahama argued that the Accra Reset represents not just a Ghanaian initiative, but a blueprint for Africa to reclaim agency in development, reduce dependency, and implement solutions tailored to the continent’s unique challenges.
“And a lot of that depends on us as leaders to be able to look at how we can move resources from other areas that are not priority into areas that are priority and have tangible benefits for our people,” he concluded.
