Ensuring Long-Term Development

In a matter of five days — just last Friday and then only yesterday — a negative aspect of African politics — which is very rife in our dear nation — has been brought to the fore.

First, it was former UN Secretary-General, Busumuru Kofi Annan, who slammed the way African governments took delight in undoing the work of their predecessors for political advantage.

He noted that instead of focusing on how to build on the good initiatives of their predecessors, governments sometimes spent half of their terms dismantling the work of their predecessors with the intention of making them unpopular.

The situation, he said, was a disincentive to development efforts and should be discarded, emphasising that regardless of which party was in power, efforts should be made to continue with viable projects and programmes inherited to help accelerate the development process.

Then, only yesterday, in a positive response to the concerns raised by Mr Annan, the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr P. V. Obeng, advocated the inclusion of all political parties on the commission to ensure that long-term national development plans were sustained and not truncated by the pull-him-down syndrome which had permeated our political landscape.

Speaking on: “Perspective on Building a National Development Agenda”, as part of the debate organised by the Institute of Progressive Research Advocacy and Joy FM, a private radio station, Mr Obeng condemned the lack of continuity of national programmes and projects and said if all political parties were allowed to make inputs into the national agenda, even while outside office, those parties would readily continue from where others left.

It is important to state that the NDPC is a body created by the 1992 Constitution and established by Act 479 with the mandate to advise the President on development planning policy and strategy.

The commission, at the request of the President, Parliament or on its own initiative, is expected, among other issues, to: Study and make strategic analysis of macro-economic and structural reform options and also make proposals for the development of multi-year rolling plans, taking into consideration the resource potential and comparative advantage of the different districts of Ghana.

Given the strategic role of the NDPC, the DAILY GRAPHIC finds a lot of wisdom in the suggestion put forth by Mr Obeng that all political parties should be allowed to “co-author and own” the nation’s long-term plans that would emanate from the commission.

Happily, Mr Obeng has had a long association with the NDPC, having served as its first chairman in 1994 before being re-appointed this year, and we trust that he was propelled by his wealth of experience in his call for a framework that would ensure participation by all in national development.

Looking back, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that every Tom, Dick and Harry must be saddened by the challenges that rock the nation after every change of government, with the post-Nkrumah era being the worst hit.

From locations across the country, about 300 factories intended for the production of a wide variety of products were abandoned. Among the industries that collapsed or became desolate were the Tema Food Complex, the State Housing Corporation (SHC), the State Construction Corporation (SCC), State Fisheries, the Takoradi Paper Mill, the Takoradi Flour Mill, the Tema Flour Mill, the Glass Factory at Aboso, just to mention a few.

Today, only a few of those early post-independence era projects remain, while our people cry for food, shelter and employment.

So let us shake off all the negative tendencies that hinder our progress and adopt a development agenda that transcends political and generational barriers, an agenda that embraces the entire spectrum of the population.

That is the surest way to kill the “PHD” syndrome and open the floodgates for true development on all frontiers.

It is also the way to achieve sustainable development that can lead to long and healthy lives, enlightenment and knowledge and access to resources needed for a decent standard of living and be able to participate fully in the decision-making process.