NDPC pays courtesy call on PPP

The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has met with the leadership of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) as part of their ongoing consultative process to brief them on the framework of the Commission.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Director-General of the Commission, led the delegation as they met with Mrs Eva Lokko, PPP Vice Presidential Candidate in 2012; Mr Kofi Asamoah Siaw, the National Secretary of the PPP; and other members of the Advisory Council.

Dr Thompson said the ongoing consultative process would be climaxed by a launch on August 4 after which a nationwide consultative process would begin to solicit the views of the citizenry across the country.

Dr Thompson said the process envisions a 40-year long term development framework adding that the citizenry have the chance to review the process in the 10 successive elections that would be held in the 40-year period.

He said the Directive Principles of State Policy are very clear on ways of achieving the objectives of the long term development goals of the country and this is the guiding document for the ongoing process.

Political parties, he said, would nominate two representatives with one at the head of the manifesto committee and there would be public consultations in the 10 regions after which technical consultations would be done.

Dr Thompson said some of the goals of the framework include ensuring an inclusive and resilient economy; to build an equitable and tolerant society; and to build effective and efficient institution.

Mr Asamoah Siaw, the PPP National Secretary, said the party supports some reforms in the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) such as the provision that calls for district chief executives to be elected and the public declaration of assets regime.

He said the party supports the separation of Parliament from the Executive adding that the PPP also endorses the decoupling of the Attorney-General from the Ministry of Justice for efficient and transparency in justice delivery.

Mr Asamoah Siaw said the party disagrees with the recommendation by the CRC that the President has the freewill to appoint as many ministers as possible from Parliament adding that this is a recipe for disaster.

He said as part of the long term development plan, some of these tendencies should be addressed as checks and balances in the Executive arm of government.

Some of the sentiments expressed by other members of the party include the workability of the document, considering the fact that the CRC which is a consultative document, seems to be working differently from the original document.

Responding to some of the concerns, Dr Thompson said the CRC is not working differently but rather the document has been suspended pending a lawsuit.

He said the commission has an interest in the implementation of the CRC.

He said so far all the parties have agreed that the country should have a long term development plan that stipulates the long term vision of the country.

He said the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and the Africa Union vision squarely fits into the 40-year framework adding that the programme would be reviewed every 10 years whilst the NDPC reviews it annually.

Dr Thompson said there are six pillars which would prepare the new Ghana without which the agenda would not be possible and these include human capital, public sector reform, land reform, infrastructure, Science Technology and Innovation and attitudinal change.