Former presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC), Dr Hassan Ayariga, has warned that Ghana’s lack of planning is the root cause of the country’s economic struggles and rising debt.

Speaking on The Pulse on March 6, Dr Ayariga said the absence of a structured national development plan has left the nation vulnerable to mismanagement, corruption, and stalled progress, 69 years after independence.

Dr Ayariga argued that Ghana has no serious long-term development plan and criticised the reliance on political party manifestos that are often abandoned after elections.

“Our major problem is lack of planning. We have a country without a serious national development. We jump from one point to another. We are not focused in planning. And there's a saying: who fails to plan, plans to fail.”

He stressed the importance of having a documented national development strategy to guide the country’s growth.

“Until we begin to put proper planning structures, a proper planning, documented manifesto not a manifesto from political parties that used to win elections and then find excuses, we will not move forward. If we had a national development plan, we would have gone far.”

Dr Ayariga linked the lack of planning to Ghana’s growing debt and economic instability.

“Our debt stock is more than the citizens shared among ourselves. We can’t pay. If we begin to share the debt stock to individuals and ask everybody, ‘Pay your debt,’ we can’t pay. Why? High level of corruption and lack of leadership. And that leadership did not start just from yesterday; it is a long-standing problem.”

He also criticised the lack of tangible results from interventions such as IMF programs.

“We have gone to the IMF, we have done what we call haircuts, and yet, you don’t see anything. You can sit down and quantify what we bought, where we put it, or how we plan to get returns to build the country.”

Dr Ayariga highlighted how poor planning has kept Ghana dependent on imports for basic goods despite decades of independence.

“Look, as a country, we borrow to survive. In 69 years of our independence, we still import rice. We import oil, tissue, tomato, and everything else we import. What is independence for? Is it a policy problem? It’s a leadership problem, and it’s a lack of leadership style.”

He concluded by emphasising that without proper planning and leadership, Ghana will continue to face repeated economic challenges.

“If you have a country where there’s no planning, there’s no leadership, everyone is a King Kong, a jack of all trades, none is a master, we will have problems upon problems.”