Bawumia wants Ghana’s parties to stick to development plans beyond elections

Mahamudu Bawumia is urging Ghana’s political parties to agree on long-term plans for key sectors and keep them in place even when a new government takes office. The former Vice-President said the country could learn from Japan, where development programmes are designed to span decades rather than the term of one administration. Bawumia made the proposal after concluding formal engagements in Japan. His meetings included representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Nippon Koei, CTI Engineering and Oriental Consultants Global, with discussions covering disaster risk reduction, coastal erosion, flood mitigation, transport planning and urban masterplans. According to the account of his remarks, Bawumia said Japan’s approach stood out because governments build agreement around development plans and commit to carrying them out over time. He contrasted that with Ghana, where he argued that some important sectors lack shared plans that successive administrations are bound to continue. He singled out coastal erosion, flood control and public transport as areas where Ghana should develop comprehensive masterplans. Bawumia proposed that political parties formally sign up to the plans so they become national commitments, rather than programmes associated with whichever party happens to be in power. His suggested model would see incoming governments continue projects started by their predecessors until they are completed. He said the aim was to reduce the pattern of changing direction after elections and give major development programmes a longer horizon. Bawumia’s comments followed his meetings with Japanese engineering and development organisations, where the focus included planning for infrastructure and reducing risks from floods and coastal erosion. He presented Japan’s long-range approach as an example Ghana could consider, arguing that political agreement would be essential if plans were to survive changes in government.