Ghana @ 100 must be a solidly developed country – Prof Adei

General News on Friday, May 31, 2019

Source: Ghananewsagency.org

2019-05-31

Professor Stephen Adei, a development economist and chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), said Ghana at a hundred must be a strong country, a "Better Ghana Beyond Aid".

He suggested the need for a long-term plan, containing the main coordinates of the way forward to realize the national vision of Ghana by the hundreds.

"I believe that the Ghana Beyond Aid document and the 40-year long-term plan project provide the key elements for doing so and that the NDPC intends to work with the Presidency and Parliament to do exactly that. this before the end of 2019, "Prof Adei said in his presentation at the launch of the first National Development Forum in Accra.

The forum, which was officially opened by Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, was organized by the NDPC on the theme "Ghana @ 100: An Agenda for a Strongly Developed Country".

The National Development Forum will be a series of monthly forums to engage the public in development policy and to promote ownership and accountability for the implementation of national priorities.

It will focus on national issues of current interest in the economy; social development; spatial planning; infrastructure development; environment; and governance.

Professor Adei, who drew a portrait of Ghana out of 100, ie by the year 2057, said: "Ghana must be a solidly developed country. This should be the vision to which we must anchor our hopes, aspirations and efforts. "

He said it was a project launched by the president with his program of action beyond aid in Ghana.

He noted that the periods in which Ghana had recorded better economic performance since the pre-colonial period were also periods during which the country had a clear vision and a transformation agenda, a commitment of the leaders, a coherent implementation , a relatively controlled corruption and a reduction of budget constraints. .

"I am referring to the era of the ten-year plan of Governor Gordon Guggisberg, the pre-Republican Nkrumah, the Rawlings Economic Recovery Program, and the Kufuor I and II Poverty Alleviation Programs." said Professor Adei.

"Today, we have Ghana Beyond Aid under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and already at least on the economic front, we find that the same phenomenon is happening again."

At the same time, he said, Ghanaians must learn from the factors that have often interrupted the progress of the nation as a people and have vowed never to let them reproduce and heaven will be the limit.

"Yes, we can be the first country in the world by 2057, when Ghana is 100 years old".

Professor Adei said that a long-term perspective plan should be simple, clear and reflect the aspirations of the population in a few pages, to which all well-meaning Ghanaians could subscribe and which were devoid of partisanship.

He said the long-term perspective framework should be broken down into medium-term plans, whose stages include foundation, structural transformation, accelerated growth and consolidation.

He said that at every stage, efforts should be geared towards achieving certain goals that are in line with the long-term framework.

He said the current program, National Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework: An Employment Strategy: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunities for All (2017-2024), could be adapted and implemented. extended another eight years to be the first step towards Ghana @ 100 vision.

"We have already seen an improvement in the management of the economy, a clearer vision of the Beyond Ghana Aid program, the revival of the agricultural sector, a resource for the program, and infrastructure, the beginning of the transformation of the pre-university education sector and the creation of a district. , a program of a single factory, "said Professor Adei.

He added that for Ghana to reach the level of developed countries, it was necessary to improve the attitude of leaders and to bring about a change of attitude among Ghanaians.

Professor Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh, Vice President of the NPDC, who chaired the meeting, said that the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides the legal basis for governments to consider a just, equitable and inclusive development and to reinforce the expectations of governments. citizens to the country.

She noted that successive governments had sought to achieve this goal by embarking on medium-term interventions, that is, four years at a time.