Structural reforms key to effective planning — Discussants

DISCUSSANTS at a workshop on development have identified long-term structural reforms as key to effective planning of the country.

At a technical consultation session on national development in Accra yesterday, the participants also affirmed the position of a technical paper on a proposed compact to make long-term development plans that will be binding on governments.

They said the lack of ownership in development planning and implementation had resulted in the shelving of three long-term plans initiated by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) under different governments.

“This is exacerbated by a disconnect between party manifestos, the long-term development plan and the coordinated programme of economic and social development policies.

“Public investment projects that are not in the long-term development plan find their way into annual budgets, while many projects in the development plan do not receive budget funding,” they said.

Technical consultations

The meeting, which was organised in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), formed part of a technical consultative workshop to arrive at a bi-partisan and non-political consensus, known as the Ghana Compact for Political and Economic Transformation or the Ghana Compact.

An initiative of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), it is expected to be an agreement between the citizenry and the government on the direction for national development through to 2050, regardless of the party in charge.

Since the launch of the compact last year, ACET has been engaging various segments of society to further consult on thematic subjects to arrive at common ground on the way forward.

The compact is a consensus building initiative that is set on agreed goals and targets for the country’s governance, political processes, economic management and policies of inclusion for the second quarter of the 21st Century.

The concept, which is a proposition of ACET President, Dr K. Y. Amoako, has 11 partners, mostly civil society organisations.

Vision

Providing further details on the Ghana Compact, Dr Amoako said the country had long been a beacon of hope in Africa since independence.

He, however, said that the nation continued to struggle with uneven growth and lack of economic transformation.

“The country needs a unified vision for development – a plan that will spell out core focus areas over an extended period, supported by a strong and independent system to help ensure that leaders stick to these plans.”

“My hope is that today’s deliberations will unlock what we need to do, and how we need to do it,” Dr Amoako said.

The Director-General of the NDPC, Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, said resolving development planning issues was not only about legitimising plans, but legitimising the processes as well.

He said they needed to put the document together to make it coherent and more harmonised and comprehensive.

Writer’s email:doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh