Ghana is at a critical point in its political trajectory. These are the targeted reforms the new administration needs to prepare for to halt further deterioration.

Ghana's new president, John Mahama, took over this month from Nana Akufo-Addo following the December 2024 elections. Rising poverty and high living costs were major campaign issues - fallouts of an economic crisis that drove the country into an International Monetary Fund bailout in 2022.

Illegal mining (galamsey) was also a hot topic, raising concerns about crime, corruption and environmental damage. Today, Ghana's reputed stability is at risk from complex security threats and declining public trust in the police, army and judiciary.

Mahama should begin his term by prioritising reform of these key security institutions. This would not only make Ghanaians safer, but build confidence in the new government as a whole.

In 2024, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) met civil society and state security actors in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa to discuss security sector reform. Participants in Ghana said the country faced widespread farmer-herder conflicts, land boundary disputes and historical chieftaincy conflicts, notably in the northwest, where citizens are considered especially susceptible to radicalisation.

They also linked galamsey to problems such as military overreach and commercialisation, abuses of political and military power,...