Let’s adopt national master plan for socio-economic development – Nii Armah Ashitey

The former Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashitey, is advocating a national master plan that will bind successive governments, for socio-economic develop­ment.

He argued that a national master plan would define what had to be achieved within the period of incumbency and would provide a guide to the future.

Mr Ashitey disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday saying such plan when drafted must include the participation of all political parties, policy makers, legis­latures and various key stake­holders for better planning.

That, he said would ensure that all sectors, be it health, education, roads, agriculture were factored in the planning to achieve a holistic policy.

Mr Ashitey bemoaned the lack of efforts by successive governments to pursue poli­cies and programmes of their predecessors, thus, leading the country to incur unnecessary debts.

“We always talk about mani­festoes and others where each government brings every four years, but it goes beyond that; because its implementation becomes an issue, so what I’m saying is that there must be a national development pro­gramme,” he added.

The former minister at­tributed the current economic woes to poor leadership on the side of the government, saying that a country enriched with natural resources could make use of it to develop its economy.

“Agriculture is one key area that can be invested to push the youth into it to create em­ployment, because agriculture they say is the mainstream of the economy,” he stated.