Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - The Institute of Economic Affairs
(IEA), a think tank, has proposed a long-term national
development plan for successive governments to monitor and
evaluate implementation of policies. The Institute said the plan should cover a 10 year period out of
which medium term plans should be developed and implemented. This was announced at a press conference on Monday to
review the 2011 Budget Statement by the Government. Dr Kwadwo Tutu, Senior Fellow at IEA said the already
established National Development Planning Commission must be a
professional entity with the position of the Chairman being
competitive. He said all political parties should be represented at the
Commission. Districts, regional and metropolitans, he added
should also be involved in the development of the plan. On education, Dr Tutu said, the idea of mobile libraries should
not be restricted to distance learning students at the tertiary level
alone but also to the primary and the Junior High Schools (JSS)
especially in the rural areas. He said the enrolment target in the primary level was
commendable but noted that quality education at the primary and
JSS levels in the public schools was very important. "This is appalling and the reliance on school governing
committees will not work if education officers, inspectors and
district assemblies are not made accountable by the Ministry of
Education," he added. Dr Tutu said instead of this, school authorities should be
tasked to produce better results at the end of every academic year,
which would be followed by intensive supervision. In the National Health Insurance programme, he urged
Government to expand coverage to all mental patients as well as
equip and expand the mental hospitals. He said the one-time premium payment promised by the
Government was not practicable, saying "if government wants to
cover some percentage of vulnerable people then premium should
be paid yearly based on the cost and changing situations." Dr John Kwebena Kwakye, a Senior Economist at IEA said the
oil find should modernize agriculture through the value chain
approach and not to dwindle like what happened in Ghana's
neighboring countries. He urged government to effectively and efficiently use the loans
it has and would acquire for the intended purposes because the
public debt was increasing.
