From Ghana Business News

The Government is to decouple Economic Planning functions from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, to strengthen development management by more closely linking plans with budgets.

The decoupling will ensure that the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) takes over the economic planning functions of the State.

The transfer of functions, according to Dr Nii Moi Thompson, NDPC Director-General, will also ensure that ultimately all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as Municipal, Metropolitan, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), will work with the Commission, to align their plans with national development priorities before they are funded to the Ministry of Finance.

NDPC statement signed by Mr David Owusu-Amoah, Head of Public Affairs, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday, explained that President John Dramani Mahama had already given directives for the decoupling.

The statement said the two institutions have met several times to determine the scope and nature of the transfer.

He cautioned, however, that the country’s development efforts would be futile without “extensive institutional reforms.”

In this regard, he said, the Commission has incorporated “soft issues, ” such as work attitudes, and “core national values, ” into its medium-term development framework, which is being implemented by government.

According to the statement, the decoupling process was disclosed to Heads of Development Cooperation Agencies in Ghana, during a working visit to the NDPC headquarters to familiarize themselves with the work of the Commission.

Read more at Ghana Business News