The Minister for Education and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, yesterday inaugurated the new Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), calling for a fundamental shift in public sector service delivery through strategic marketing principles.

The inauguration ceremony, held at the Ministry of Education, marked a new chapter for the Institute as it deepens its regulatory role under the CIMG Act, 2020 (Act 1021). The Minister, in his keynote address, challenged the inaugurated governing council to extend the influence of marketing beyond the private sector to the core of public governance, deepening public sector marketing for accountable governance and effective service delivery.

“Marketing is not just for selling products. At its heart, it is about understanding human needs and delivering value,” Hon. Iddrisu said. “In the public sector, this means listening, responding, and improving how we serve citizens. We need to embed marketing into the way government operates—so that we measure not just infrastructure outputs, but citizen satisfaction.”

To this end, the Minister proposed three bold initiatives: the introduction of a national satisfaction survey across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to benchmark service delivery; the development of a customer-centric training programme for public servants in partnership with CIMG; and the institutionalisation of Citizen Accountability Forums as a core performance metric for public institutions.

Mr Iddrisu also praised the immediate past president, Dr. Daniel Kasser Tee, for his leadership in repositioning CIMG and achieving key milestones following the enactment of the CIMG Act, 2020 (Act 1021).

CIMG National President and Council Chair, Mr. Michael Abbiw, welcomed the Minister’s proposals, affirming the Institute’s readiness to collaborate with government agencies to build a service culture grounded in trust, responsiveness, and data-driven insights.

“Our Professional Marketing Qualifications and regulatory role place us in a strong position to support this agenda,” Mr. Abbiw stated. “We already lead Ghana’s private sector customer satisfaction surveys. Extending this model to the public sector is not only feasible—it is necessary.”

Mr. Abbiw outlined the Council’s strategic vision anchored on an eight-point agenda, including expanding membership base, professional development, and strengthening research and advocacy through its flagship initiatives like the Ghana Customer Satisfaction Index (GH-CSI) and Ghana Regional Brand Index (GH-RBI), among others.

The Council pledged to deepen engagement with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), educational institutions, and key state actors to elevate marketing’s role in national development and improve the citizen experience across all public services.

This inauguration underscores CIMG’s evolving role as a national thought leader and its commitment to transforming marketing into a catalyst for effective governance and inclusive growth. The newly inaugurated Governing Council is made up of eleven distinguished members who will steer the Institute’s strategic vision over the coming years.