Political parties told to implement Ghana’s development plans, not manifestos
Dr. Benjamin Anyagre, the Chief Executive Officer of the Afro-Continental Union Consult, has called on political parties to implement the existing development plan drawn by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) for the country instead of coming out with manifestos.
Dr. Anyagre speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the political parties’ manifestos ahead of the December 7 general election, described the plans stated in the manifestos of the various parties as a complete scam.
He explained that “there is no need for a political party to present a manifesto to the electorate when Chapter 6 of the 1992 Constitution talks about the directive principles of the state.”
He said that provision was backed by an Act of Parliament establishing the National NDPC, which had its own vision and mission statements with other requirements and research experts to gather needed data to drive home Ghana’s growth agenda to address basic essential and infrastructural obligations of the state.
He noted that if the NDPC was allowed to work assiduously as a real independent state institution with offices equipped with the needed logistics and those providing various services in it were motivated, the country would witness a dramatic transformation in its development processes.
According to him, many duplicative policies of the state with many outlets of spending not in line with the core functions of the NDPC had successfully jammed up the development compass of the country with inundated debts, making most citizens confused about poverty.
“Hence, what the political parties should do is inform the electorate with empirical evidence on what they have been able to achieve per the Chapter 6 provision of the 1992 Constitution under the NDPC while in office, once in office, or what to do,” he added.
Dr. Anyagre stated that the seven-year development plan document of the first republican dispensation and other development plans over the years still have relevant provisions that must be perused quickly and implemented, instead of coming up with manifestos that are only geared towards elections with no commitment to develop the country by the various political parties.
Source: GNA