The General Secretary of the Convention Peoples’ Party, Nana Yaa Jantuah has called for the urgent need for Ghana to establish a national economic development plan that would guide the administration and management of the country.
According to Mrs Jantuah, the practice where political parties govern the country through the policies and programs contained in their manifestoes has failed to produce the desired development outcome for the country.
She noted that many of the policies and programs contained in the various manifestoes of political parties remained unimplemented as evidenced under the Fourth Republic political regime.
“If we have an economic development plan that everybody knows about, then parties will work from it. Because of these manifestos, I don’t think the people who write them even open them when they come into power. So I believe in a national economic development plan and that will be the one that we [politicians] will all work with. So when you are voted into power, we all know that you will work up to page three and you have to make sure that you have finished 1, 2, 3. Then the next government will also continue”.
Nana Yaa Jantuah
Nana Yaa Jantuah further stated that a comprehensive national economic development plan would offer the appropriate framework that would help political parties when in government’s to champion transformational and sustainable development for the country.
According to her the national economic development plan would offer political parties in power the opportunity to identify the various areas or sectors of the country’s economy that require government’s immediate interventions and assistance in terms of development.
She noted that such a situation would offer successive governments the requirement to prioritise the country’s development based on the urgent needs of the citizens rather than the situation whereby political parties in power act in a manner that would always serve their interests.
National Economic Development Plan And Constitutional Support
Furthermore, the Former Public Relations Officer of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC0 stressed the need for the country’s national economic development plan to have constitutional backing to ensure that political parties particularly parties in government comply with its provisions.
She added that the national economic development plan when established must have an evaluative committee that would examine and assess successive governments on their commitment and compliance with the provisions of the national economic development plan.
According to her the creation of such an evaluation committee would ensure and promote accountability as a key tenant of good governance in the country.
Moreover, Nana Yaa Jantuah emphasized the need for the government to undertake urgent steps to address the growing inequality and inadequate level of development such as poor housing, poor infrastructure, poor sanitation and indecent educational facilities facing communities in the country.
She admonished the country to desist from relying on political party manifestoes and focus on a more robust and sustainable approach to achieve development.
“We must also have an economic evaluation committee that will evaluate these governments as they implement the economic development plan. The real manifesto is when you’re going to Tamale and you see all these mud houses we have in Ghana and all the bad roads, the bad health facilities, and the bad educational institutions where young boys and girls are learning under trees.
Nana Yaa Jantuah
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party then called for a national economic development plan to be committed to by all, stressing the significance of this plan in utilizing Ghana’s resources for the good of the citizens of the country.
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