The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has acknowledged its failure to secure the implementation of previous development plans by successive governments.

The NDPC attributes this failure to the rigidity of these documents, which made them difficult for governments to adopt.

However, the Commission has learned from past mistakes and made adjustments to address the issue.

According to Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, Chairman of the NDPC, rigid plans prescribing specific projects and actions are not viable under the current political environment. Consequently, the Commission has made the new development plan more flexible.

Speaking at an event at the University of Ghana, Prof. Gyan-Baffour said, “The National Development Planning Commission had been very much concerned, just as most Ghanaians, about why long-term development plans have not withstood the test of time.

“The commission has concluded that rigid plans prescribing project programs and actions will not survive under the current political dispensation, a dispensation that requires parties to subject themselves to the electorates’ base on their manifestos which tell voters that these programs, these are the projects and these are the development actions we intend to implement when given power.”