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Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, Paramount Chief of Osu, has called on the National Development Planning Commission to give the National House of Chiefs an active role in the preparation of the long-term national development plan.

Nii Dowuona VI said the role could help traditional leaders as well as the entire citizenry to hold governments accountable on each sector of the economy.

He said this during a consultative meeting of the Commission with the Osu Traditional Council in Accra to seek their opinions on the development framework.

The Paramount Chief suggested that the Commissioners review the plan every four years instead of the proposed 10 years to suit the situation of the economy.

“Before we have any meaningful planning, we need to have statistics, we need to have a national identification to succeed,” he said.

Nii Dowuona VI said the number of births and deaths in the country is something the Commission should not overlook if it wants a successful execution of plan.

Speaking later in an interview with the GNA, Nii Dowuona VI, who is also the President of the Osu Traditional Council, said he is looking forward to find a Ghana with an extended free compulsory basic education for school children from Crèche to Junior High School.

On health and transportation, he said that the nation especially rural areas needed adequate hospitals to ensure that patients don’t die out of easily curable diseases; adding that single roads should be expanded into quadruple roads to allow easy access of roads.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Director General of the Commission, expressed satisfaction with the national consultation the Commission has embarked upon.

He said during the regional stakeholder consultation, Persons with Disability (PWDs) urged the Commission to bring on board the concept of ‘development with a conscience’ where PWDS’s would be given education as well as other privileges enjoyed by persons without disabilities in the society.

Dr Thompson said the Commission would display images and videos of their national consultation in 2016 for the general public to have a fair idea on the views of every group or entity towards the plan.