In his view, that will genuinely address the needs of Ghanaians.

In the midst of an economic crisis, Mr. Kyerematen said Ghana needs competent individuals without political affiliation to contribute ideas and policies to transform the country.

“What Ghanaians need is a national plan and not manifestos. There is a compelling desire by the majority of Ghanaians to move Ghana beyond party manifestos towards the formulation of a National Development Plan which all Ghanaians can sign up to” he said on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Tuesday.

The presidential hopeful believes a paradigm shift towards sustained growth is essential to positioning Ghana favorably and breaking free from reliance on International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In June last year, Alan Kyerematen, a former flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), put forth his Great Transformational Plan (GTP) as a new direction towards accelerated growth that will position the country and break the cycle of Ghana going to IMF for support.

He therefore advocated for a collaborative effort between the government and private enterprises to foster economic development and prosperity for all citizens.

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Prof Agyeman-Duah on JoyNews’ PM Express emphasised the need for a collaborative approach, suggesting the adoption of the 40-year national development plan crafted by the National Development Plan Commission as a blueprint.

According to the former UN Governance Advisor, implementing the content and recommendations outlined in the 40-year plan is the most effective way to address Ghana’s development deficit and stabilize the economy.

He highlighted the common political practice of making promises without detailing implementation strategies, noting that such a trend hampers genuine progress.

“It is the way we run politics; all the parties seeking power would want to demonstrate to the populace that, in fact, we can do ABCD without telling the people how they’re going to do it.

“… so your development is going to depend on the charity of the international organizations; the multi and the bilaterals, then we’re going to have a time when everything will collapse on our face. And that is exactly what we’re experiencing,” he said on Monday.

Advocating for a unified national manifesto, Prof Agyeman-Duah argued that the 40-year development plan could serve as a consensus document for all political parties.

Such a collective approach, he believed, would enable civil society organisations to monitor and hold political parties accountable for their promises.

Drawing parallels with successful developing nations like Rwanda and Malaysia, Prof Agyeman-Duah underscored the importance of aligning political agendas with long-term development goals.

He acknowledged the criticisms of countries like Rwanda for perceived shortcomings in democracy but pointed out their significant strides in development.

The former UN Governance Advisor concluded by highlighting the close relationship between development and politics, cautioning against the pitfalls of political competition that often lead to unfulfilled promises and abandoned projects when parties come into power.

He urged Ghana to prioritise a unified vision to overcome development challenges and propel the nation forward.

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According to him, the current political system that allows presidential aspirants to compete on their own ideas, for the best idea to emerge as victorious, is not pushing the country into development.

He said a common manifesto would propel the country into economic stability and infrastructural development.

“The only way we can have a common manifesto for a common future is to ban party manifesto. Let’s ban them [party manifestos]. I hear time and again that a lot of Ghanaians are frustrated about why we cannot have a national development plan and stick to it.

“We keep referring to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Chinese and we know that this has been a very fundamental part of their transformation. There is no way we can have a common national development plan and stick to it if we keep having party manifestos. It is not possible. There is a contradiction there. So if we want a common manifesto that will translate into a common development plan, I say ban the party manifestos,” he said.

He made these comments while contributing to a public lecture dubbed, ‘A Common Manifesto for our Common Future’ on Tuesday, November 28.

Mr Kottoh explained that when the era of manifestos ends, the country can then assess the presidential candidates on who is the best person to achieve the national ‘Key Performance Indicators (KPI).’

He said the current political system creates the picture where employees [politicians] are assessed on their own marking scheme [manifestos]. He said KPIs would help the populace determine whether to retain or sack them.

To achieve the necessary impact, Mr Kottoh suggested that with these KPIs, the citizenry agrees on some non-negotiable terms in the common manifesto.

He stressed that when this happens, the country will move towards the desired development.

But David Ofosu-Dorte, Executive Chairman of AB and David Africa who was the guest speaker at the lecture, said instead of banning manifestos, the citizenry must rather drive what goes into the manifestos of the parties to bring about the desired development.

He, however, said his analysis of manifestos churned out by Ghana’s two main political parties since 1992, shows that the real issues of importance to national development are often not captured.

According to him, his analysis also established that the two main parties usually say the same things in their manifestos except for the wording of the pointers that differ.

But David Ofosu-Dorte, Executive Chairman of AB and David Africa who was the guest speaker at the lecture, said instead of banning manifestos, the citizenry must rather drive what goes into the manifestos of the parties to bring about the desired development.

He, however, said his analysis of manifestos churned out by Ghana’s two main political parties since 1992, shows that the real issues of importance to national development are often not captured.

According to him, his analysis also established that the two main parties usually say the same things in their manifestos except for the wording of the pointers that differ.

The interesting thing is that none of these manifestos seems to focus on the soft points without which the manifestos cannot thrive. For example, the manifestos make copious provisions for security. But what is security in an undisciplined society? If the society is undisciplined there cannot be security; it doesn’t matter how many plans you make” he argued.

After pointing out several other examples of the similarities in manifesto promises for various sectors of the economy, David Ofosu-Dorte concluded that “The real problem, therefore, is not what the manifestos say, it is rather what the manifestos don’t say. Because the manifestos in my view, are silent on very important issues which form the real foundation. It’s either they’re completely silent on them or do not address them adequately.

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Watch below the full lecture: