The Parliamentary Special Committee on Poverty Reduction Strategy has proposed the inclusion of representatives of political parties with representation in Parliament on the National Development Planning Commission. The proposal, according to the committee, is to make the development plans of the country truly national and allow for easier buy-in by other political parties. It is also to ensure continuity of development plans since according to the committee, parties with representation in Parliament must have knowledge and experience of relevant areas and roles pertaining to development, economic, social, environmental and spatial planning. The proposals were contained in the Co-ordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies, 2010-2016, which was adopted by Parliament. The programme is on the theme: “An Agenda for Shared Growth and Accelerated Development for A Better Ghana”. The programme was presented to Parliament to give effect to Article 36 (5) of the Constitution, which requires that the President presents to the House, within two years of assuming office, a co-ordinated programme of economic and social development policies including agricultural and industrial programmes at all levels and in all regions of the country. The committee, however, explained that such people nominated by the political parties to be part of the NDPC should have the requisite knowledge and experience about national development planning. It also called for clarity in the roles of the NDPC and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, explaining that presently, it was difficult to determine which of the two was responsible for development planning. “The committee is of the opinion that the NDPC should be responsible for economic and development planning, while MOFEP focuses on the day-to-day management of the economy and the management of the country’s finances.” It also recommended that to minimise the gap between approved development policies and programmes and those that were actually implemented vis-a-vis actual releases against what was budgeted, the NDPC should be represented in Cabinet to constantly remind the government and ministers to remain on track as much as possible. The committee was commended for fulfilling its constitutional obligation by presenting the co-ordinated programme of economic and social development policies (2010-2016) to Parliament for approval. The main strategic direction of the government, according to the document, is to transform the economy into an industrial architecture, based on value-added processing of Ghana’s agricultural and natural resource endowment by the exploitation of opportunities linked to oil and gas. That is to ensure that the country moved away from dependence on traditional raw material exports. According to the committee, it was observed that the President, in preparing the document, was guided by the latest information available and inputs from all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, the general public and other sources on the development challenges confronting the country. Source: Daily Graphic