Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission, Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa says the Sustainable Development Goals have been an integral part of their programmes and policies.

He said this is to ensure that Ghana is not left out of the development agenda.

According to the Director-General, despite the strides being made on the development agenda, the Commission is faced with a capacity challenge.

In a yet to be aired interview with Benjamin Akakpo on the AM Show, Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah- Abrampa revealed that the absence of experts in some critical areas of their endeavor has been a major challenge.

"We realized two years ago that we didn’t have an urban expert here who could take up the issue of urbanization at the time we were approaching the global world forum, the world forum for urbanization. So we worked through that and we couldn’t secure that, so we had to rely on some staff at Land Use and Planning Authority (LUSPA), and also rely on other staff of local government to beef up to be able to do that,“ he said.

Dr. Kodwo Esseim Mensah-Aborampa said the situation does not augur well for the needed coordination of efforts which is a sine qua non for their success.

"Urbanisation is interdisciplinary and also involves, knowledge in planning, engineering social policy, economic and therefore that gap really affected us and our capacity is being challenged."

The Director-General also disclosed that due to some unfilled vacancies at the Commission, workers have been burdened with having to put in extra effort for the vacuum created and this has also affected output.

“Those of us who are here are doing double work and others and that is why when you come to find me 7:00pm here, you may think I am just starting work, because I ought to do that and so are the other staff to be able to cover up for some of these gaps,” he added.

Dr. Mensah –Aborampa said currently, a committee is in place to ensure that appropriate strategies are taken to get the right persons to fill the gaps and also deal with the salary regime of the staff working at the National Development Planning Commission.

The exclusive interview with Dr. Esseim Kodwo Mensah –Aborampa airs on Monday, May 16, 2022, at 7:20am on the AM Show on the JoyNews Channel