About Us

Chapter Six of Ghana’s constitution on “directive principles of state policy” provides the basic expectations from a government and what should be accomplished by the state, however, each government employs its own strategy and approach in responding to these development expectations. The current government in its manifesto, which obtained an overwhelming mandate of the electorate, promised to facilitate growth, create job opportunities and ensure prosperity for all through the pivotal role of the private sector in production. The government also pledged to develop strategic economic and social interventions over the short to medium-term period to create a suitable environment for savings and investment.  It must however be recognized that the process of linking the vision through policy to implementation requires a formidable planning process to produce cogent plans and sustainable programmes. The plans and programmes should not only be technically sound but must also receive the required political buy-in and commitment from the leadership of Government. The Ministry of Planning (MoP) therefore plays a key role in linking the technical output of planning to the necessary political decision-making platform, which is given expression through the public investment programmes and the national budget.

 

The Ministry of Planning, thus requires a highly technical and formidable Secretariat to assist in coordinating national policies, harmonizing intended actions into concerted plans and programmes, and liaising with the respective sector heads and Office of the President in developing a corresponding public investment portfolio for implementation and plan reviews. It is also to ensure that the national development trajectory also falls in tandem with and be guided by international development targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Agenda 2063.

 

The shift of the development paradigm from a fiscal-laden economy to one emphasizing production and job creation requires a deliberate short to medium-term framework that will respond to the new trajectory and detailed-out programmes and actions in the respective sector and district plans for implementation and delivery. This requires an input of high technical acumen and political influence to drive Ministry of Planning in leading and charting this new direction.

 

The Minister for Planning, supported by his technical team will ensure a well-coordinated policy regime, which captures the vision of the President, the development strategy of the government and the aspirations of the people of Ghana, to serve as basis for the public investment programme and the national budget. The vision, strategies and aspirations are to be converted into clear technical policies with defined targets and actions for implementation.

The development planning function at the Ministry of Planning is required for strengthening policy planning, development management and ensuring the viability of public investments. This Ministry thus provides the necessary expertise in fulfilling the key technical and political lead for development planning, implementation coordination and provide the needed documentation and prompt development information for the President’s Cabinet and the Economic Management Team (EMT). The Minister for Planning, besides being a member of the EMT is also specifically responsible for developing the Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policy (CPESDP), a National Medium-Term Development Framework to guide the sectors and local governments and the National Medium-Term Development Plan, which harmonizes the sectors and local governments’ development plans into a concerted and integrated national policy and action plans for the medium-term. The annual action plans, rolling out from the Medium-Term Development Plan is a key input to the national budget. The MoP also enhances the collective efficiency and effectiveness of public investments by providing thorough analysis for financial viability, economic feasibility, environmental sustainability and particularly the effect on inclusive growth. The assessed public investments are prioritized and coordinated with the development of a Public Investment Programme Portfolio (PIPP), which is then presented to the Ministry of Finance as a vital input to the national budget process.

 

The Office of the Minister for Planning thus facilitates the establishment of the Vision of the Government, manage the political-technical interface for national planning and undertakes processes to ensure the efficiency, effectiveness and coordination of public investments for attaining inclusive growth.

 

Key Current Activities

 

  • Facilitate the development of the Party Manifesto and other national development demands into a Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies (CPESDP).
  • Coordinate the expression of the CPESDP into a Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework.
  • Facilitate the reflection of the CPESDP in the Sector Plans as well as the Medium-Term Development Plans of Sub-National Authorities.
  • Seek to institute practical measures to link planning, programming and budgeting at both national and local levels
  • Facilitate the development of Project Appraisal skills among the PPMEDs of Sectors and SOEs, and the DPCUs of Sub-National Authorities.
  • Lead in the institution of processes for conducting thorough project appraisal for all Public Investments
  • Create and organise a Programme/Project Bank for all appraised projects and prioritize for Local and national budgets
  • Facilitate national implementation of the SDGs and coordinate reporting on international development agreements
  • Facilitate and ensure inclusive growth and development and the engagement of citizens to establish a culture for development planning and implementation.
  • Facilitate the development of a Ghana Economic Model for analyzing and projecting reliable economic development indices for Ghana