He said that there was a need to legitimize national development plans as well as review the Constitution to lift the approval process of all plans by the NDPC to Cabinet and Parliament.

He made these remarks while giving insight into the  National Development Planning Paper  at a Technical Consultation on National Development Planning Agenda held in partnership with theAfrican Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) in Accra.

Dr. Mensah-Abrampa highlighted some key challenges in development planning which included discontinuity in planning, inconsistencies in policies and policy formulation and coordination as well as governments favouring short-term physical projects instead of long-term structural reforms.

He however noted that the Commission hoped to strengthen the communication of its mandate.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Kingsley Y. Amoako, Founder and President of ACET said that the Ghana Compact was a collaborative effort between ACET and leading policy institutes such as the Center for Democratic Development- Ghana (CDD), Netright Ghana, IMANI Ghana, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and civil society organizations such as Integrated Social Development Center, Ghana (ISODEC) and Youth Bridge Foundation.

Speaking on the importance of the Ghana Compact, he said  it seeks a new, more hopeful, and inclusive way to tackle the fundamental challenges we face. And when finished, it will be an agreement between citizens and government leaders, regardless of the party in charge, on the direction of travel for our country, and on the vision and principles that underpin our democracy .

Dr. Amoako noted that  the consultation was part of a broader effort to build consensus, which was at the heart of the Compact.  “Consensus is necessary for long-term success”   he added.

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Chairman of the NDPC said that the Commission's mandate was to advise the President and engage parliament.  He highlighted some of the development frameworks it had embarked on which included the Ghana Vision 2020 and the Medium Term National Development Policy framework.

Some speakers at the session were Mr. Suman Bery, Vice Chair of the Indian Planning Commission (NITI Aayog) who shared his experience on perspectives based on other countries'  experiences, and Mr. Julius Muia, Former Principal Secretary of the State Department Principal Secretary for Planning in Kenya.

Others were Dr. Ed Brown (ACET), Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, President of Ghana Institute Of Planners (GIP) Alhassan Mohammed, and Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, Director General of the Internal Audit Agency of Ghana.

After the Technical consultations, ACET would embark on a broad national engagement effort across the entire country to engage citizens.

The Ghana Compact would inform debates during the election and help Government to implement the country's  long-term development goals and plans, through a strengthened NDPC, with the support of a Citizens  Oversight Committee.