Bawumia wants political parties to commit to long-term national development plans

Former Vice President and NPP flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has urged Ghana’s political parties to agree on long-term development plans that will remain in force even when power changes hands.

He said adopting national masterplans for key sectors would help prevent governments from scrapping projects and policies introduced by previous administrations, thereby ensuring continuity in the country’s development agenda.

Dr Bawumia made the call after a series of engagements in Japan with officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Nippon Koei, CTI Engineering and Oriental Consultants Global.

The discussions covered coastal erosion, flood control, disaster risk management, transport systems, and urban planning.

Reflecting on the meetings in a Facebook post, he highlighted Japan’s approach to development planning, where consensus is built around long-term objectives and successive administrations remain committed to implementing them.

“What stood out most was Japan’s approach to planning. Japan takes the long view. They build consensus around a plan and then commit to executing it over 30 years,” he noted.

He said Ghana could benefit from adopting a similar system, particularly where changes in political leadership have often shifted priorities and interrupted ongoing development projects.

Dr Bawumia proposed that political parties should collectively endorse national masterplans before seeking office and commit to implementing them when elected.

He identified coastal erosion, flood management, and public transport as sectors that require such cross-party commitments.

“In Ghana, we often do not have an agreed masterplan in many critical areas that we are all working towards, regardless of party. We must change that. I believe we can.

“Let us have agreed masterplans in areas such as coastal erosion, flood control, and public transport – and let all political parties sign up to them,” he said.