The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Professor Kwesi Botchwey , has stated that the failure of successive governments to implement long-term plans is responsible for Ghana’s current developmental problems.
According to him, Ghana was once considered to be on a similar level as South Korea and Malaysia, and while those countries have grown to become economic superpowers, Ghana has stumbled massively.
[contextly_sidebar id=”7LHfMf7FehoxETpWeYlSkxyWeF7IG5dW”]”Development economists and social scientists have for long noted that at independence, Ghana’s level of development was broadly similar to those of Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea. Ghana has lagged behind while these other countries have flourished and achieved high income growth.” he said.
Speaking at the launch of the new long-term national development plan for the country in Accra on Tuesday, Prof. Botchwey stated that developing and implementing a longer-term plan is necessary for Ghana to reach the level of the Asian countries.
“The basic difference between Ghana’s experience and those of Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan has been the consistency with which they implemented their plans compared to ours which was characterized by discontinuity in implementation,” he stated.
“With the exception of the 1951 five-year plan and the three two-year plans which went through the full term of implementation, almost all our plans have been truncated either for lack of resources to implement them or worse, for reasons of political expediency”
Meanwhile the Trades Union Congress says it is committed to ensuring the success of the new national development plan.
According to the Secretary General of the TUC, Kofi Asamoah, the only way to ensure the development of the country was to “develop a more democratic, meritocratic egalitarian responsive and inclusive society, and that is the wish of working people.”
“The workers are committed to the process of developing a long-term development plan for Ghana”
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana