The Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr. Nii Moi Thompson disclosed that a legislative instrument that will give the Commission the power to sanction Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) that do not comply with national planning and budget guidelines has been endorsed by the Attorney General’s Department.
The legislative instrument is ready for Cabinet.
Dr. Thompson made this known when he met the heads of developmental cooperation agencies in Ghana to deliberate on the nation’s short and long term development agenda.
The meeting was at the behest of the agency heads led by Mr. Jim Bever –the country director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It also included representatives from the United Nations System, the African Development Bank, the European Union, Germany, Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom, among others.
The meeting which lasted for two hours offered Dr. Thompson the opportunity to explain to the international development community in Ghana, the President’s Transformational Agenda, the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA II), as well as other development frameworks of interest.
He also answered a number of queries from the delegation regarding the implications of a possible IMF programme for Ghana’s growth and development prospects; the relationship between the Ministry of Finance and the NDPC; the role of the private sector in national development; and efforts by government to address weaknesses in development management.
Dr. Thompson told the delegation that –the NDPC was in the process of taking over the planning functions of the Ministry of Finance per the President’s directives and that it had met several times to determine the scope and nature of the transfer.
The transfer of functions, he said, “is meant to strengthen development management by more closely linking plans with budgets”, adding that ultimately all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as Municipal, Metropolitan, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) will work with the Commission to align their plans with national development priorities before they are funded by the Ministry of Finance.
With respect to a possible IMF programme for Ghana, Dr. Thompson assured the delegation that such a programme would focus mostly on short-term macroeconomic stabilisation, while the Commission would focus on medium-to-long-term economic growth to complement the programme. “In this regard”, he added, “the Commission is working closely with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana to ensure a successful programme”.
He cautioned, however, that the country’s development efforts would be futile without “extensive institutional reforms”. In this regard, he said the Commission has incorporated “soft issues” such as work attitudes and “core national values” into its medium-term development framework which is being implemented by the government.
The leader of the delegation, Mr. Bever, expressed appreciation to Dr. Thompson and NDPC for granting them audience and hoped that the two sides would meet more frequently to share ideas.
By Mohammed Awal
