Continuity in governance, a necessity for Ghana's long-term development

Continuity in business and governance is, and has always been a crucial part of achieving results in any organization be it a private or public entity; to achieve continuity there has to be a positive co-relation between plans and execution of same.

Everythingwe see presently has been the effects of thoughts that has evolved into plans and have been successfully executed, the preceding statement seeks to draw our minds to the importance of proper planning and execution in business and governance.

What people on the other side of the globe seem to do perfectly is long term planning and gradual execution of plans in the interest of its people, the understanding that governance is a continuous process of which policies of national interest do not cease once there is a change in leadership; China was not an economic super power some years back, but through long-term planning and concerted efforts, they are now a force to reckon with in global trade and have now emerged as a world super power.

Our country seems to have missed its path in terms of development planning and continuity in governance, since the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, political instability and multi-party democracy has robbed the nation of concrete development paths aimed at making life better for our people; it appears that for political gain each party comes up with its own development agenda and its abandoned when there is a change in power.

In November 1919, Sir Gordon Guggisberg (then governor of Gold coast) presented a 10-year development plan spanning 1920-1930, some fruits of that plan is the Korle-bu teaching hospital we see today, the Takoradi harbor and the rail system we have currently.

Kwame Nkrumah came forth with the 7-year development plan in 1964, which was aimed at speeding up the rate of growth of our economy, achieving socialist transformation through rapid development of the state and cooperative sectors, and eradicating completely the colonial structure of our country; the Akosombo dam, Tema harbor, Kwame Nkrumah university of science and technology, the adomi bridge among others are some of the brain-child of Nkrumah's development agenda.

Post Kwame Nkrumah era, successive governments have failed at drawing and executing a comprehensive plan for the development of our nation, for those who did, execution has proved futile, talk of the rural development plan (1971-1972) Ghana vision 2020, Ghana poverty reduction scheme (GPRS 1&2) and the most recent, Ghana shared growth and development agenda (GSGD II&II); admittedly, some of these policies achieved some level of success but was mostly short-lived due to poor execution of plans and changes in government.

It is obvious that in spite of the introduction of these policies, Ghana's development has made little to no progress; talk of health, roads, housing, transport and other pivotal areas of economic growth. We are virtually at a standstill in term of growth and development.

Our population has increased by over 300% post-independence, from estimated 6.7 million in 1960 to about 28.8 million as of 2017 obviously, current population has grown to outweigh the number of basic amenities in the system, visit the nearest public hospital and you will find unending queues which lands most patients in utter discomfort; supply of affordable housing is less than demand and has resulted in the high cost of rent, the rippling effect is the growth of wooden structures and slums in our cities.Ghana's housing deficit is currently estimated at 1.7million housing units and is estimated to reach 2 million next year.

The Minister for works and housing has disclosed recently government's readiness to complete abandoned housing structures started in the erstwhile Kufour's administration at a cost of $51 million dollars; It is sad to note, that if these projects had been completed by the successive government, tax payers' money would have been saved as inflation and exchange rate increases has affected prices of goods and services over the years.

Again, our senior high school system has been tossed back and forth over the past 10 years, the 3-year system was altered to 4 years by Kufour's administration, was reverted to 3-years by the next government and now the double track system introduced by the current government.

These are not isolated cases, several policies and developmental projects have been abandoned by current and previous governments because of changes in regime and subsequent discontinuity in governance.

It baffles me however, that, in spite of the apparent infrastructural and economic challenges plaguing Ghana, there seem to be no clear cut national policy to solve these challenges within the short to long-term future.

As I put earlier development is not achieved by chance, it takes concerted efforts through planning, organizing of resources and proper evaluation to ensure results tally with set plans; this is set out in article 87 (2) of the 1992 constitution, regardless, leadership seems to lack in this area, our problem is not only absence of planning but organization of resources (human and financial) and evaluation of results to correct any deviations from set plans in addition to changes in government.

It is important we note, that as our population grows there is he need for a comprehensive plan devoid of political bias to cater for our developmental needs, especially basic infrastructure, industrialization of our economy, curbing unemployment and reducing the current housing deficit among others.

The national development planning commission, set up by the NDPC Act 1994(ACT 479), should shore up their effort at implementing fully the dictates of the 40-year development plan spanning 2018-2057 which coincides with the 100th anniversary of our independence; going forward, it is important that the constitutionally mandated body ensures that political parties comply with the nationally-owned developmental policy when it is eventually rolled out.

In the words of the late J.H Mensah in 1963, he mentioned that “the real value of a plan is to give the nation a sense of direction and to institute a system of purposive discipline”; drawing from the preceding statement, the implementation of the 40-year development plan will give current and subsequent governments a road map which will guide the formulation and effecting of policies.

Forging on, it is imperative on the NDPC and government to mitigate any potential risks which will impede the successful implementation of the 40-year development plan and any other national plan for that matter.

To ensure continuity in government policies and projects, the NDPC should remain neutral with little or no political influence; in essence they would be able to properly execute the mandate for which they were established; as an important tool in management, control measures should be devised to track development with set targets and timelines.

Again, personnel of the NDPC as well as state officials should display a high sense of commitment towards ensuring strict adherence to the dictates of the 40-year development plan; the interest of the country must supersede all personal interest at all material times.

We bargained for independence on the oars of “self-government now”, and in the words of Kwame Nkrumah we are capable of governing ourselves, what we must note is that good governance does not come by chance, it takes vision, strategic planning, timely execution as well as discipline and commitment, without which all our efforts will go down the drain.

We should have been compared with the likes Malaysia and Singapore had it not been our failure to plan the future in the past; we owe ourselves and the next generation the duty to plan the future of our country in order to make life better for Ghanaians in the years ahead.

The case of political parties coming to power with their own growth agenda should be minimized to pave way for national development policies and continuity of governance.