{"id":164322,"date":"2024-03-22T07:18:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T07:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/22\/what-is-in-a-name-the-40-year-development-plan-revisited\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T07:18:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T07:18:38","slug":"what-is-in-a-name-the-40-year-development-plan-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/22\/what-is-in-a-name-the-40-year-development-plan-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"What is in a name? The \u201940-year development plan\u2019 revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

As the economy struggles through its worst crisis in living memory, Ghanaians have increasingly been calling for a long-term national development plan to guide the policies of successive governments and provide stability and resilience in economic growth.<\/p>\n

As a result, the \u201c40-Year Development Plan,\u201d which was once dismissed by critics as \u201ctoo long\u201d and a threat to political party manifestos, has gradually won favour among a restless public desperate for answers and relief.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, a little history would put the plan \u2013 and its fate \u2013 in perspective.<\/p>\n

The official name of what is popularly known as the 40-Year Development Plan was Black Star Rising: Long-term National Development Plan of Ghana \u2013 2018-2057<\/em>,<\/strong> spanning 40 years and culminating in the 100th anniversary of Ghana\u2019s political independence from Britain.<\/p>\n

It is common practice for nations to align their development plans with important dates in their lives.\u00a0 Kwame Nkrumah\u2019s Seven-Year Development Plan, for example, was originally five years but was extended to 1970 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Ghana becoming a republic, having rejected the queen of England as head of state in 1960. His dream of using the occasion to showcase Ghana\u2019s post-independence achievement, however, was dashed by the coup of 1966.<\/p>\n

In the case of the 40-Year Development Plan, there was an added element of fate:\u00a0 Under the 4th Republic, a new government inherits the last year of the preceding government\u2019s 4-year medium-term development plan (which overlaps with the year after every election) in order to foster continuity and also give the new government time to translate its manifesto into an implementable plan.\u00a0 Hence, no matter who won the 2016 election, the next medium-term development plan was going to start in 2018 (not 2017) and end in 2021, the year after the next election.\u00a0 Between 2018 and 2057, with or without a long-term plan, Ghana was going to prepare 10 4-year medium-term plan for a total of 40 years, accompanied by 10 presidential elections between 2020 and 2056 (See the table below).\u00a0 The 40-year Development Plan only provided context, direction, and vision based on our collective fate.<\/p>\n

The preparation of the Plan by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) took over two years of comprehensive reviews of Ghana\u2019s political and economic histories to understand how we evolved from independent, sometime-warring, states into a unified state fighting not each other but a common enemy of under-development.\u00a0 Besides reviews, the Commission also worked with six political parties to consult extensively around the country with a wide range of groups, including students, traditional leaders, business associations, religious leaders, and other civic organisations.\u00a0 Notable personalities, including the then-sitting president, John Mahama, two former presidents (J. J. Rawlings and J. A. Kufuor), the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, and the newly elected president, Nana Akufo-Addo, were also consulted.<\/p>\n

President Akufo-Addo\u2019s pledge to be guided by the Plan, however, was soon undermined by hostile statements and ridicule by some of his appointees.\u00a0 One decided to re-write the Plan, under a new name, \u201cGhana@100\u201d, while another chose to replace it somehow with a \u201ccharter\u201d called Ghana Beyond Aid.\u00a0 In the end, only fragments of the Plan found expression in an inchoate national development agenda.\u00a0 As a result, core initiatives were ignored and critical targets missed.\u00a0 For example, the Plan recommended a reduction in electricity distribution losses from 24% to 12% by 2021 and further to 5% by 2029. Instead, losses increased to 29.7% in 2021 and have almost certainly increased significantly since then.\u00a0 Similarly, the target of increasing electricity consumption per capita, a key indicator of economic growth, from 348 kWh per capita to 850 kWh per capita by 2021 fell short by 302 kWh per capita, and has been declining, worsened by the current challenges in the electricity sector.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Planning Commission commenced a process to revise the plan to reflect changed circumstances since 2018, a commendable idea.\u00a0 However, it wants to change the name (yet again) to \u201cLong-term National Development Perspective Framework,\u201d to be \u201cpopularly referred to as Vision 2057\u201d.\u00a0 This is regrettable because the choice of name for the Plan was discussed extensively at the time of its preparation and reported cogently in the Plan as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll long-term plans are inherently frameworks (or vision documents) that guide the preparation and implementation of operational plans, both medium and short term. In popular usage, however, and for effective communication, the word \u201cplan\u201d is often used inter-changeably with \u201cframework\u201d or \u201cvision\u201d. In 2011, Parliament passed the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, (Act 815). Aspects of this law refer to a \u201clong-term plan\u201d [to be developed] for Ghana. What is being prepared, though called a \u201cplan\u201d, will be a framework or vision document to guide successive governments in the preparation of their medium-term plans between 2018 and 2057.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the 40-Year Development Plan is essentially a framework to guide medium-term planning.\u00a0 Why the duplication?<\/p>\n

It has taken the public nearly 10 years to get used to the name, \u201c40-Year Development Plan.\u201d What value is to be gained by suddenly changing it to something entirely different, even confusing, when there are more pressing issues facing the Plan, like the various missed targets and the imperative to redress those issues expeditiously?<\/p>\n

What is in a name, when we have a distressed economy to rebuild?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

The author, Nii Moi Thompson, was the director-general of the National Development Planning Commission when the 40-Year Development Plan was prepared.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSource:<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\tDr. Nii Moi Thompson\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the economy struggles through its worst crisis in living memory, Ghanaians have increasingly been calling for a long-term national development plan to guide the policies of successive governments and provide stability and resilience in economic growth. As a result, the \u201c40-Year Development Plan,\u201d which was once dismissed by critics as \u201ctoo long\u201d and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is in a name? 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