National development must rise above politics

Ghana’s development story continues to be disrupted by political transitions that reset priorities instead of consolidating gains.

The result is evident across the country: stalled infrastructure, abandoned programmes and a costly cycle of reinvention.

It is this persistent challenge that has once again brought the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to the fore, with its renewed push to develop a consolidated, legally binding national development plan.

The NDPC’s latest initiative, expected to be launched in September, seeks to address long-standing gaps in policy coordination and implementation.

Through nationwide consultations, the commission has identified deep structural weaknesses, chief among them the failure to implement well-crafted plans.

As its Director-General, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, aptly noted, Ghana does not lack plans; it lacks execution and accountability.

The findings from the consultations are telling. Across regions, stakeholders highlighted a disconnect between national policies and local needs.

In Ashanti Region, concerns ranged from mismatched spending priorities to weak agricultural value chains.

Greater Accra Region faces rapid urbanisation, congestion and infrastructure strain, while Bono and Central regions grapple with youth unemployment and skills mismatch.

In Northern and North East regions, underutilised land, poverty and weak social services persist, while Oti Region continues to struggle with poor infrastructure and untapped resources.

These challenges are not new. Ghana has, over the decades, produced numerous development frameworks—from Ghana Vision 2020 to the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategies (GPRS) and the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA).

Yet, many of these well-intentioned blueprints have either been abandoned or only partially implemented following changes in government.

The same pattern is reflected in physical projects.

The E-Block community day schools initiated under the Mahama administration and the Agenda 111 hospital projects launched by the Akufo-Addo administration illustrate a troubling trend where successive governments often fail to continue or complete projects started by their predecessors.

Road projects are left midway, housing schemes stall, and agricultural initiatives lose momentum, only to be revived years later at higher cost.

This discontinuity is economically damaging and socially unjust.

It erodes public trust, undermines investor confidence and delays essential services.

More importantly, it reflects a deeper institutional weakness in which the binding authority behind national development plans is absent.

While the NDPC is mandated to coordinate development planning, its role has largely been advisory.

Its plans, however comprehensive, are not legally enforceable.

Governments, therefore, remain free to prioritise partisan manifestos over nationally agreed frameworks.

It is against this backdrop that the NDPC’s renewed effort must be critically examined.

The Daily Graphic notes that this is not the first time the commission has initiated processes aimed at producing a binding, long-term development plan, yet previous efforts have yielded limited practical results, raising the critical question of when these initiatives will finally translate into an enforceable framework that outlives political cycles.

Encouragingly, the commission, led by its Chairman, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, is engaging political parties at the highest level to build consensus.

We commend this approach, as bipartisan commitment is essential to ensuring continuity.

However, consultation alone will not suffice.

We argue that there must be deliberate legal and constitutional backing for NDPC plans.

Parliament must enact legislation that makes these development frameworks binding, requiring governments to align their policies and programmes accordingly. Any deviation should be subject to rigorous justification and broad national consensus.

Additionally, a centralised policy database, as proposed by the NDPC, could help eliminate duplication and ensure that political manifestos are grounded in existing national frameworks.

Independent monitoring mechanisms and regular public reporting would further strengthen accountability.

Ghana cannot continue to recycle plans while abandoning progress. Development must be treated as a national, not partisan, enterprise.

The NDPC’s latest initiative presents an opportunity, but it must go beyond process to produce results.