Gov’t to make changes to 40-yr devt plan

The government intends to make changes to the 40-year national development plan which was developed to provide long-term planning for the country.

The Senior Minister-designate, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, answering questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament last Friday, said the NPP government would not abandon the development plan but modify it to suit its policies and programmes.

“We will look at the 40-year development plan because it is important that every country has a plan, particularly in respect of infrastructure, and where there is the need to make changes, we will make them, in consultation with all the political parties,” he stated.

Mr Osafo-Maafo was of the view that any development plan that exceeded 10 years was, in itself, bad, hence the 40-year National Development Plan proposed by the previous government was wrong.

He said the constant changes in the global economy did not support the idea of putting up a long-term development plan that went beyond 10 years

“Advanced economies no longer talk about long-term plans that go beyond 10 years,” he stated.

NPP consulted

The nominee admitted that he was consulted during the drafting of the development plan, stating: “I was involved in the discussion of the 40-year development plan. I was consulted and I made my views clear from day one that I did not believe in any plan in excess of 10 years because of exigencies of world economies and, therefore, I would prefer that we restricted ourselves to a 10-year development plan.

“Dr Nii Moi Thompson (Chair of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)) called me a couple of times to talk about this and I gave some specific notes of my mine, particularly on the infrastructure side, but I haven’t seen the final outcome of the development plan, although I have had some inputs into it.”

He also admitted that the NDPC met the whole caucus at the NPP headquarters and he, together with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, again expressed his views on the length of time.

“Now that we (NPP) are in power, we are really going to look at that programme. But, as I said, I made my view clearly that I did not believe in any plan beyond 10 years and I still stand by it,” he said.

Govt’s commitment to plan

The national development plan was developed to ensure that every elected government factors its priorities and development agenda within the overall context of the broad national plan.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has already demonstrated his willingness to ensure that the agenda of his government stays within the broad framework of the 40-year development plan and has already nominated a Minister of Planning who will be in charge of that.

President Akufo-Addo, introducing the nominee, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, said per the discussions he had already had with members of the NDPC, it was indicative for his government to have a point of reference for the process of reconciling the agenda of the NPP and the mandate it had within its manifesto and within the broad framework of the development plan.

“All of us within the political space now agree that we have to take the issue of planning and developing our economy seriously and that is why a lot of support has been given to the NDPC, which has come up with a 40-year programme for national development set out in broad terms and targets,” he said.

Prof. Gyan-Baffour has already met with the Director-General of the NDPC, Dr Thompson, to discuss collaboration on advancing the President’s development agenda through the Long-Term National Development Plan (LTNDP).