Craft development plan acceptable to all — Prof. Teye
The Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, has called on the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to craft a national development plan that will be acceptable to majority of Ghanaians.
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He said that would enable the plan to go through its full cycle of implementation even when there was a change of government.
According to him, the idea mooted by the NDPC to come out with a 40-year national development plan for the country was laudable but suggested that it should be made in such a way that it would transcend any future government to ensure its full implementation.
Prof. Teye made the call at the ceremony for the opening of this year’s Harmattan School of the UDS in Tamale last Wednesday on the theme: “Long-Term Development Plan: Implications for Consolidating Democracy and Development.”
The annual Harmattan School organised by the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research and Consultancy Services (IIRaCS), formerly Institute for Continuing Education and Interdisciplinary Research (ICER), is a platform created by the UDS to bring together researchers, civil society organisations (CSOs), policy makers, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to deliberate on issues of development relevant to the nation.
Prof. Teye, in his address, noted that Ghana had had several development plans, with some preceding our national independence, but the problem had been with implementation and commitment for continuity.
He, therefore, called on the NDPC to ensure that its proposed long-term national development plan would be acceptable to Ghanaians, especially political players “so that whatever plan crafted would go through its full lifespan in order to address the development gaps faced by the country”.
Judgement debts
Prof. Teye partly attributed the huge judgement debts that had bedevilled the country to the reluctance of political players to continue with what their predecessors began and added that viable projects cost several billions of taxpayers’ money had been abandoned due to changes of government.
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“Our inconsistency at implementing the several development plans, even after independence, has partly accounted for the development gap between us and the Asian Tigers who today are miles ahead of us in terms of development. The development of the Asian Tigers can be attributed not only to the experience of a more stable political environment, but largely to the commitment and consistency with which they implemented their development plans,” he stated.
“There is no point for lamentation about our development woes. For now we have the opportunity through the proposed national development plan to gather the pieces and forge ahead as a people to ensure sustained national development for ourselves and for generations yet unborn. We cannot do this without a plan because it is often said those who fail to plan invariably plan to fail,” Prof. Teye added.