Break short-term development planning cycle - President charges NDPC
President John Dramani Mahama has urged development experts to help break the cycle of short-term development and rollout a long-term plan.
The President, therefore, charged members of the reconstituted National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to craft a comprehensive long-term national development plan that transcended political administrations and provide the country with a consistent development pathway.
“Your task is to craft a plan that finally liberates Ghana from the limitations of our past and illuminates a bold path for future generations,” President Mahama said when he inaugurated the 43-member 8th Governing Board of the NDPC at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
Chaired by its former Director-General and development economist, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, the President gave his blessings for their success.
“My office stands ready to support this important process as the programme will reflect not only the vision and policy priorities of this government, but also the collective aspirations of the Ghanaian people,” he said.
The President called for the consolidation of various existing development frameworks, including the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter, the Ghana @100 Initiative and Vision 2057 into a single, actionable national plan.
“I ask the commission to consolidate all these various efforts into a coherent, inclusive and forward-looking national development plan,” President Mahama said.
This consolidated blueprint, he emphasised, must be developed through broad consultation with Parliament, civil society and ordinary citizens to ensure it reflected genuine national consensus.
Value
President Mahama, drawing extensively on the country's development history, lamented the nation's persistent reliance on raw commodity exports and the absence of value addition, nearly seven decades after independence.
Quoting the first President, he reminded the nation that "in the very short period, we remain prisoners of our past," referencing Dr Kwame Nkrumah's visionary Seven-Year
Development Plan which emphasised long-term economic transformation.
“This reality reflects the persistence of structural constraints that continue to hold us back,” President Mahama said.
Growth framework
Dr Thompson, who spoke on behalf of the commissioners, outlined an innovative approach to development measurement that moved beyond traditional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth matrix.
The commission, he said, would implement a three-dimensional framework, simultaneously tracking economic expansion, job creation and wage growth.
"Productivity remains the fundamental differentiator between developed and developing economies," Dr Thompson stated and illustrated his point with stark comparisons.
“While the average American farmer generates about $100,000 in annual output, his Ghanaian counterpart produces merely $3,000 worth, the development economist said.
District surveys
The NDPC chairman also announced plans to revive the District Business Climate Survey, previously conducted with German technical assistance, and in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana introduce a novel regional breakdown of business credit distribution.
The measures are to provide unprecedented visibility into local economic conditions and credit accessibility across all 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
The commission threw its weight behind President Mahama's decentralisation agenda, particularly praising the recent decision to restore sanitation management responsibilities to local governments.
Dr Thompson delivered a pointed critique of current procurement practices, arguing that "the extraction of wealth from district economies to Accra through centralised procurement constitutes a fundamental barrier to equitable development."
The newly inaugurated Commission will immediately commence work on the 2025-2029 National Development Policy Framework, which will operationalise the President's forthcoming Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development.
Members
The 2025 NDPC comprises a distinguished cohort of leaders across sectors.
They include ex-officio members, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, the NDPC Director-General, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, as well as the Government Statistician, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu.
Ministerial representation features the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Projection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, and Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim.
The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Public Sector Reform Minister, Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, and the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, are also members.
There are also representatives from the regions making up the number of members, some staff of the NDPC and persons appointed by the President based on relevant competencies.
