Party Manifestos Should Be In Sync With The National Development Plan – Prof. Gatsi

Prof. John Gatsi is Dean of Cape Coast Business School

The Dean of the University of Cape Coast School of Business, Prof. John Gatsi, has opined that party manifestos must be tailored toward a national development plan to ensure the continuity and longevity of government projects.

Therefore, he proposed that an inclusive national development plan should be developed to guide the manifestos of political parties in Ghana.

Speaking at the Center for Social Justice 11th Leadership Dialogue Series in Accra, he said, according to norvanreports.com: “We cannot stop political parties from developing manifestos, but we should have a national development plan agreed upon by all; for instance, if we decide to link the Eastern and Western corridors of rail lines, the national plan should tally with the manifesto and should not depart from it, that would ensure continuity of projects.”

According to him, despite the NDPC’s mandate to guide developmental projects the President proposes, political parties come to power with party manifestos.

In this regard, he said political leaders “should see themselves as stewards and their positions as a privilege and not an unquestionable right.”

On the country’s current economic challenges, he noted that Ghana’s economy is facing turbulent times due to its high unsustainable public debt, high-interest payment burden, which dwarfs financial commitment to other sectors; undulating macroeconomic environment; fiscal dominance situation; low revenue performance; neglect of the potential of modernized agriculture; and inefficient spending.

•ghanaweb.com