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The newly launched long term national development plan might not be implemented if the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo emerge as the president of Ghana after 2016.

This was revealed by the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC), which claims that the NPP flag bearer is not in support of a national development plan. Campaign Coordinator for ISODEC, Steve Manteaw told Citi News, Akufo Addo is convinced a long term development plan will return Ghana to what he terms, “socialist economic planning.” “I am very much aware that the NPP flag bearer, Nana Akufo Addo does not buy into this idea. As at 2012, we had an encounter with him and he had convincing reason why we should not be governed by a long-term development plan.

His view is that a long-term development plan for Ghana will return us to the command type of socialist economic planning and he thinks that people should be free to provide whatever manifesto they want to be guided by and carry it through,” he noted.

Manteaw however believes that the long term development plan can work only if the plans are restricted to only broad national aspirations. He said: “I think what is being proposed is not a document that will be very detailed in terms of how this country must be governed. What is being proposed is a broad development framework that sets our national development priorities. You may want to liken this to the Millennium Development Goals or its successor programmes.

So it sets the broad goal and then political competition will take place within that framework in terms of who has the best strategy to take this country to where we want to get to by 2040, the plan actually should be very broad.” President John Mahama on Tuesday launched a programme to kickstart the preparation of a long-term National Development Plan for the country today. The plan is expected to span within a period of 40 years.