The 2012 presidential candidate of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr. Hassan Ayariga, has said Ghana would not make progress unless it had a National Development Plan and implement it.

Addressing the party’s Regional Executives and delegates in Bolgatanga, he said he drew the government and stakeholders’ attention to the issue during the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) platform organized for presidential aspirants.

Mr. Ayariga said he expected the government to start the process earlier on instead of spending huge sums of money hosting people at the just ended Economic Forum to discuss the issue again.

He said the country should have a 30-year National Development Plan and it should be implemented properly to ensure that it makes a meaningful impact on the country.

On the PNC, Mr. Ayariga expressed regret at the National Executive Committee’s action that took the leadership of the PNC from the presidential candidate and said this affected him.

He said it made him unable to fulfill the promises he made to the delegates that he would restructure the grassroots level by renovating and staffing the offices with more logistics to enhance party activities.

“The power that was made available to me was taken away from me and that disempowered me to empower you. Despite that I did my best,” he said.

Mr. Ayariga said he spent 200,000 Ghana cedis supporting the parliamentary candidates of the party to file their nominations apart from paying polling agents and also single-handedly sponsoring his campaign.

He said the changes that the NEC made just before the 2012 election led to the creation of rancour within the party and that affected the party’s performance in the election.

Mr. Ayariga said it was important to foster unity in the Party and that it was only through unity that the party could make a significant impact on national politics.

The First National Vice Chairman of the Party, Mr. David Nibi, said the Region was the backbone of the party and lauded the Regional and Constituency Executives including party supporters for their contribution.