President John Dramani Mahama has emphasized the urgent need for a united, bipartisan approach to national development.
According to him, Ghana’s economic transformation depends on continuity and consensus across political divides.
Speaking at the Executive Leadership Retreat, President Mahama observed that efforts to drive sustainable economic growth in Africa often face setbacks due to changing political priorities and the lack of long-term national development plans that transcend party lines.
He warned that the cycle of introducing new development blueprints with every change in government disrupts progress and undermines efforts to lift citizens out of poverty.
He pointed to countries like Singapore, which achieved rapid economic progress in just a few decades under consistent leadership and clear development goals.
Although such nations often had strong leaders at the helm, he was quick to caution against yearning for similar leadership models in Africa.
In his view, the continent cannot risk having unaccountable leadership since the outcomes can be unpredictable and, in some cases, regressive.
He stressed that while democracy can sometimes slow down decision-making, any gains made within democratic governance structures are more sustainable because they are achieved through consensus.
He called for stakeholders to agree on the key drivers of economic transformation regardless of which political party is in power.
This, he said, would ensure that national development plans are not discarded by successive governments but rather refined and sustained.
Highlighting the numerous plans that have come and gone such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy, Vision 2020, Agenda for Transformative Development, and the 40-Year Development Plan, Mr. Mahama underscored the need for a stable framework anchored in bipartisan agreement.
He noted that international partners like the UNDP, in collaboration with institutions such as the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), can play a vital role in fostering a collective vision.
Ultimately, Mr. Mahama proposed that the country should collectively identify and commit to a core set of development priorities that all governments can adhere to, making only minor adjustments to reflect their ideological leanings.
This, he believes, is the path towards real and lasting transformation.
