The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reiterated the importance of a long-term national development plan for the rapid and sustainable development of the country.
In furtherance of this, he said, government has completed documentation on the co-ordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, and sought the approval of cabinet for onward submission to parliament far ahead of schedule in accordance with the constitutional requirement which mandates the President to submit to parliament within the first two years of his administration.
The President made this revelation when the National Development Planning Commission presented a draft 40-year National Development Plan to him at the Flagstaff House yesterday.
The draft plan is a product of about two years work of the National Development Planning Commission, an independent body mandated by the constitution to, among other things, advice the President on planning, strategy and development proposals for the comparative advantage of the resource allocation of the country.
The emphasised that “the long-term path of our nation’s development is one that has to concern us all, politicians and the citizenry alike.”
He said having followed discussions on the country’s long-term development plan and the arguments that have arisen as a result, it was imperative that the nation chooses a path that solidly secures the future for the generation yet unborn.
He noted that his aspiration for the country includes, among others, providing a buoyant economy that will provide decent jobs for all, as well as providing infrastructure that effectively supports the country’s development, and thus emphasised the need to rally all dissenting views on a national plan to the table to see through a workable plan for the country’s development.
“One thing is certain: we must not, and cannot, fail in taking up this journey. We need to seek out those who are not yet convinced and bring them on board; and we need to have people to champion the different aspects of the plan, in particular the key milestones.”
He expressed his profound gratitude to the members of the commission for bringing their knowledge to bear in producing the documents, and pledged his government’s commitment to continue from where they ended.
“My team will now continue the work from here and subject it to careful review, with the expectation that any angles that were missed and any additional milestones will be added.”
Dr Kwesi Botchwey, chairman of the commission, who presented the draft plan to the President, reiterated the need to factor in the obvious imperatives of the rising development in the use of technology in the country’s development agenda.
He noted that the framework which was presented was reached through a broader consultation with statesmen, political parties, youth, persons with disabilities, and many more.
He emphasised that in forming the plan, the commission’s sole aim was to establish a long-term horizon and steps that the country might take to reach its long-term goals.
He said taking into cognisance the county’s multiparty democracy, it was factored into the plan that there would be over the period of 40 years, at least 10 successive tenures, where each political party will be mandated to pursue its own agenda on which it was elected with envisaged medium-term plans.
However, it is expected that these plans tie into the grand national plan for development.
“And so we believe the plan will enable us both to forge the continuity of development planning that has enabled countries that started with us to go so far ahead of us and at the same time the flexibility that will help us build into our economic development processes to allow different political parties to pursue their agendas.”
Members of the commission resign en bloc The chairman also announced that the commission has, in a collective decision, resigned their post to allow new members to take over.
It is not uncommon for commissioners to resign en mass.
J.H. Mensah's Commission resigned en mass but no one took notice. The commission is made up of constitutional ex-officio members - Finance, Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), appointed ministers, regional reps and individual experts.
The appointed ministers, of course, cease to be commissioners once their government loses power.
The President has the power to re-constitute the entire commission and reappoint previous members if he so wishes.
All commissioners must be sworn in by the President before they can start work.
The Director General (DG) is a technical officer and an ex-officio member, nominated by the President but hired by the Public Services Commission after an interview.
He is covered by the rules of the Public Service and was not part of the commissioners, and thus not part of the mass resignation.
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