IEA proposes national dev't plan for successive govts

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.