PSRS HOLDS NATIONAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION ON THE NATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM STRATEGY (NPSRS II)
The Public Sector Reform Secretariat (PSRS) held a National Stakeholder Consultation on the National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS II) on Tuesday, 28th April, 2026 at the AH Hotel in East Legon, Accra to discuss, share ideas and dialogue on the programmes and activities contained in the draft NPSRS II towards its finalization process. The stakeholder consultation brought together members of the NPSRS Technical Committee, key representatives from Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), representatives of some Civil Society Organizations, Academia and representatives from the private sector.
In her opening address, Hon. Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, Minister of State in charge of Public Sector Reforms acknowledged that the public sector continues to face significant structural and institutional challenges which include fragmented systems, weak performance management frameworks and persistent service delivery bottlenecks has been the major concerns in the overall effectiveness of public sector institutions.
According to Hon. Akanvariba, “Ghana’s performance on global governance and public sector effectiveness indicators, including the World Bank’s Government Effectiveness Index underscores the need for improvement in areas such as regulatory quality, service delivery and institutional capacity”. She indicated that findings from Afrobarometer survey suggest that a significant proportion of Ghanaians express concerns about delays in accessing public services and perceptions of inefficiency in public sector organizations.
The NPSRS II therefore has been developed as a comprehensive framework to address the challenges and reposition the public sector for responsiveness and efficiency. She reiterated that the Strategy is anchored on key strategic priorities including 1. Enhancing public sector performance through strengthened performance management systems across Public Sector Organizations, to ensure they deliver measurable results; 2. Advancing digital transformation by promoting interoperability of government systems, data-driven decision-making and improved records management; 3. Strengthening human resource management and recruitment to ensure merit-based recruitment and promotion processes, aligning skills with emerging public sector workforce needs, particularly in digital competencies and continuous capacity development; and 4. Improving service delivery through citizen-centred approaches that reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies and enhance access to public services.
In response to addressing the challenges, “the Government is committed to building a public sector that is efficient, accountable, citizen-centred and digitally enabled. The journey leading to today’s engagement has been one of reflection, dialogue and learning.” she said.
Again, better coordination, ICT infrastructure and proper placement of skilled personnel will be implemented as part of the reform process. The Minister of State added that all the public sector or public services would be well coordinated.
Hon. Lamisi Akanvariba also said that a comprehensive gender strategy would be implemented across Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) as part of the reform initiatives, as well as the establishment of a one-stop-shop for government services, where citizens could access all public services in one location.
She also said that public sector reforms must go beyond partisanship, by stressing that most people working in the public sector were technical staff and not politicians,” she said. The Minister of State made it clear at the consultative session that after the engagement, stakeholders and policy makers would be consulted before finalizing the document for Cabinet approval.
The technical session as part of the second phase of the stakeholder consultation was centred on the presentation of the first NPSRS, lessons learnt and the overview of the NPSRS II framework, the pillars, programmes and activities identified for discissions and review.
The Director in charge of Policy, Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation at the PSRS, Mr. Joseph Abbey, said the second phase of the NPSRS was being developed to enhance public service delivery across the entire public sector. He said, the NPSRS II was a follow-up to the NPSRS I, which gave birth to the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP) with funding from the World Bank.
Mr. Abbey explained that while the first phase of the NPSRS partially targeted only thirteen (13) implementing institutions, including the Births and Deaths Registry, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Passport Office among other public sector institutions, the new strategy would be much broader.
He further explained that the NPSRS II would maintain the pillars of the first phase, with an additional pillar focused on securing predictable and sustainable funding for future public sector reforms. He said the review under NPSRS II would focus heavily on digitalization to replace manual platforms with digital processes.
On funding, Mr. Abbey said signals from the Minister of Finance indicated a push to source local resources for implementation of activities to ensure that the document was ready for integration into the upcoming 2027 national budget. According to him, the strategy was expected to be ready by June for dissemination to public sector organizations for inclusion in the 2027 budget.
Regarding the implementation timelines, Mr. Abbey indicated that the interventions listed were not one-off, and that the strategy would target a five-year period, from 2027 to 2031, but could be scaled down to four years, ending in 2030.