The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NPDC), Dr. Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa, has underscored the need for stakeholders to review Ghana’s 1992 Constitution in order to facilitate its mandate of guiding the country’s development.
“To be able to fulfill that mandate, which will guide our development, this is important. The National Development Planning Commission is not asking for anything extra; what we are saying is that we have been given the mandate within the constitution. Can we be facilitators so that we can perform this?” he quizzed.
He argued that when they are allowed to perform their mandate, they will be able to develop a long-term perspective plan and a medium-term plan that will respond to the long-term plans.
“Implementation can only be done when this reflects the respective budgets. Once it reflects the budget, then you are linking up and ensuring sequencing, then you are ensuring continuity, and you are ensuring that this will bring the results that have been targeted within the plans,” he said.
Dr. Mensah-Abrampa revealed that the planning process follows a logic; therefore, it will be important to follow the logic of planning by using our resources to drive the development of our country, and this can be done by empowering institutions that have been tasked with managing the development.
He further urged the government to consider the membership of the NDPC alongside the resources to help the members stay committed and strengthen the Commission.
“There is a need to look at our constitution again. There is a need for us to look at the National Development Planning Commission if we want it to be the august Constitution that will guide us for our people to realize the promised outcome for many years that they haven’t realized.”
“There is the need for us to look at the relationship between other institutions and the Commission—their mandate, their functions, their roles—and if we can protect this, we are surely protecting our development and making a development that responds to the needs of the people”, he continued.
Dr. Mensah-Abrampa made these submissions at the Ghana Dialogue Center organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on September 14, 2023, under the theme “Reviewing Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.”
The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) was established under Articles 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution as part of the Executive. The commission is mandated to make provisions for a coordinated program of economic and social development policies, which the President of Ghana is, by law, required to submit to parliament every two years.
