Senior minister-nominee, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has downplayed the relevance of a 40-year national development plan to guide Ghana’s development agenda.
According to him, a long-term plan for national development must be limited to ten years due to world economic conditions and the advancement in technology.
Speaking at his vetting in Parliament on Friday, Osafo Maafo said, although he made inputs into the document that was spearheaded by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), he made his concerns known about the the duration of the plan.
“I don’t believe in planning in excess of 10 years because of the stringency of world economics, and therefore I would prefer that we restrict ourselves to a 10-year development plan. I have made some inputs into it relating to infrastructure and energy.”
“The NDPC met the whole caucus of the NPP at our headquarters to discuss initially the 40-year development plan. The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and I expressed our views on the length of time.”
Osafo Maafo noted that, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will take another look at the plan, and together with the NDPC review it to make it relevant to the nation’s development.
“Now that we are in power, we are surely going to have a critical look at that programme and we are not going to swallow it hook, line and sinker. We’ll look at the 40-year-plan; it is important that every country like Ghana gets a long -term plan, particularly with respect to infrastructure, so that there will be continuity. So we will definitely look at it and where modifications are necessary, we’ll make it after going through.”
The former NDC government led by John Mahama in August 2015 launched a 40-year National Development Plan for Ghana (2018-2057) to provide a framework for national development binding on successive governments.
The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) which is headed by Dr Nii Moi Thompson consulted various stakeholders and considered the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to development the plan.
The nomination of Yaw Osafo Marfo as Senior Minister-designate has seen some social commentators raise issues about the portfolio. JH Mensah.
Although the portfolio was exiting under the erstwhile John Kufuor administration, many people believe, it was superfluous with no specific designation.
But according to Mr Osafo Maafo his role as Senior Minister is to coordinate the economic sector ministries including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure that the “economy is resituated in a homogeneous manner.”
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