The government has introduced about 22 laws in the past 18 months to give lasting force to its reforms and protect the economic stability Ghanaians have sacrificed to achieve, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has said.

The objective, he explained, is to stop future governments from undoing the progress made and taking the country back to the pain and hardship of the 2022–2024 economic crisis.

Dr. Forson was speaking at a New Economy engagement at the University of Ghana when he outlined the steps being taken to place the reforms on a firm legal footing.

His comments came in response to a question from Prof. Fred Dzanku, Head of the Economics Division at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), who asked how some of the government’s policies could be institutionalised.

“I try to introduce a lot of laws. In the last 18 months, we have introduced about 22 laws,” Dr. Forson said.

He described a deliberate process of introducing new legislation, repealing older laws and making amendments specifically designed to shield the reforms from easy reversal.

“We are trying to put these reforms into law,” he said.

The government is also working on amendments that would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament before certain laws can be changed, making it significantly harder for any future administration to reverse course.

“So we are locking in the progress,” he added.

Reflecting on his background, the Minister said his time in Parliament and his experience in policymaking have given him a clear understanding of what it takes to sustain reforms beyond a single government’s term.

“I am in a unique position to understand how the issue of sustainability can be tackled because of my parliamentary experience and policy experience,” he said.

Policies that exist only as government decisions, he noted, can be altered relatively easily. That is why the administration is turning reform commitments into legal requirements. Amendments currently being made to the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act are part of this strategy.

“So the PFM Act is being amended. Some of the things we are doing are being institutionalised and we are putting it into law to lock in the sustainability,” he said.