Ghana trapped in short-term political thinking - Dr Thompson

Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Nii Moi Thompson, has warned that Ghana risks remaining trapped in endless short-term political cycles due to the country’s failure to implement long-term national development plans.

Speaking at the Ishmael Yamson and Associates Business Roundtable themed “Harnessing the Next Quarter Century: The Infrastructure Imperative,” Dr Thompson described Ghana’s inability to sustain long-term planning as a major weakness undermining national development.

He stated that several ambitious development frameworks introduced over the years were abandoned before implementation despite the country’s persistent infrastructure and economic challenges.

“Over the 10 years, we then ended up with what is four basically long-term plans that were never implemented,” he stated.

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The NDPC Chairman listed the abandoned initiatives as the 40-year National Development Plan, Ghana Beyond Aid, Ghana Beyond Return, and Vision 2057.

“So, basically we’ve been chasing our tails and hoping that we’ll get to where we want to get to, and it doesn’t work that way,” he stressed.

Dr Thompson contrasted Ghana’s stalled planning culture with countries pursuing deliberate long-term industrial strategies, citing China as an example.

“It was the same 2015 that China launched the Made in China programme. A lot of the accomplishments you see there over the past 10 years were started the same year that we started the 40-year national development plan, and then we brushed it aside over some of the most petty complaints,” he said.

He lamented that political disagreements and debates over terminology delayed implementation of Ghana’s long-term framework while critical national problems remained unresolved.

“Some said the name of it wasn’t the right one. So, they spent almost a decade quibbling about the fact that it should be called a framework instead of a plan, but children were still studying under trees,” he added.

The NDPC boss also pushed back against suggestions that the Commission should be completely depoliticised, arguing that development planning is naturally linked to politics and governance.

“Development as a whole is a political process,” he explained.

However, he clarified that while the leadership of the Commission aligns with the government of the day, its technical structures remain permanent and non-partisan to ensure continuity, and further revealed that the NDPC, together with the Ministry of Finance, has started sanctioning ministries, departments, and agencies that fail to align spending with approved national development plans.

“And so, starting last year, we worked collectively with the Ministry of Finance and began to punish the various ministries, departments, and agencies that do not comply with the law,” he disclosed.

According to him, some state institutions have historically spent public funds without properly linking expenditures to national development priorities or demonstrating measurable results.

NAD/VPO

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