Just as every football team playing a match has a technical team on the bench that directs and coordinates the activities of the players on the field who are playing different roles, a similar situation is required of Ghana’s economic management, where there should be a central economic coordination team to oversee all the economic sector players.
This is the advocacy of the Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi and the Ranking Member on the Economy and Development Committee of Parliament, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
The former Minister for Information, and later the Housing Minister in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration, argues that just as no football team succeeds without a solid technical bench guiding players on the pitch, Ghana’s economy cannot thrive without a strong, well-structured Economic Policy Coordination Committee at the heart of government.
In an exclusive interview with The High Street Journal on a wide-range of economic issues, he laid bare what he sees as a major weakness in Ghana’s economic governance, which is poor coordination.
Why Economic Planning Was Moved from Finance – And Why That’s Not Enough
Oppong Nkrumah applauded Ghana’s decision to move economic planning away from the then Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
The idea was to allow the Finance Ministry focus on fiscal policy while the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) handles long-term economic planning. Moreover, it was also to ensure that no single individual has an absolute or huge control over the economy, which can be threatening to other sectors.
Despite the good move, he observes that in practice, something critical is missing. The NDPC, he says, can plan and advise, but it does not have the muscle to enforce.
Without a body that can compel ministries and agencies to align with the national economic plan, good ideas often stay on paper.
“It is important to move the economic planning function out of that ministry so that the ministry can focus on fiscal policy. And so, in consonance with Article 87, that function was given to the National Development Planning Commission. So that finance will focus on finance, NDPC could do economic planning. But you still needed somebody to manage and literally force all the economic sector organisations to implement whatever economic plan was coming up,” he remarked.
The Coordination Gap Hurting Governments
According to him, this economic coordination deficit is not unique to the current administration. It affected previous governments as well.
Economic management, he stressed, has many moving parts, such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, debt management, and the real sector ministries like roads, energy, trade, agriculture, and communications. When these parts are not properly aligned and coordinated to ensure balance, policies pull in different directions.
He emphasized that the economy is not just the Finance Minister or the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, hence there is the need for proper coordination among all these players.
“The roads minister, the energy minister, the trade and industry minister, the agric minister, the real sector, and the communications minister. Those ministries in the real sector, they also need to report to the economic policy coordination committee. It’s like a coach and a technical bench watching the players on the field and directing them on what to do,” he explained.
Parliament’s Own Fix: Working Together to Avoid Duplication
Recognising this gap and complexity, Parliament recently split its Finance Committee into three: Economy and Development, Budget, and Finance. While this reflects a deeper understanding of economic management, Oppong Nkrumah admits it also creates risks of duplication.
To manage this, the Minority side has taken matters into its own hands to ensure proper coordination among all economy-related committees.
With their experience in when they were government, he revealed how ranking members across key committees work closely together to align positions and even hold joint sittings when necessary.
It’s a stop-gap solution, he admits, but one born from hard lessons.
Learning from National Security Architecture
To make his case forceful and relatable, the MP turned to a familiar example, which is the National Security Architecture.
Ghana does not rely on the Interior Ministry alone for security. Instead, a constitutionally recognised National Security Council coordinates the police, military, intelligence, and immigration services under presidential authority.
Just as the country does not rely on just a single security service in the management of the nation’s security affairs, he argues that the same or similar architecture is needed for the economy.
In his view, security and the economy are the two pillars of national stability. Yet while security has a strong coordination structure, economic management does not.
“There’s a National Security Council chaired by the president and it’s coordinating the various elements of national security. That’s the same thing that you need with the economy. And just asking NDPC to do planning does not resolve that. There needs to be a proper economic policy coordinating committee at the presidency briefing down everybody accordingly,” he asserted.
Why the Presidency Must Lead Economic Coordination
He believes the solution lies at the presidency. What Ghana needs, he says, is a properly empowered Economic Policy Coordination Committee that sits at the highest level, briefs the President, and holds ministers accountable across fiscal, monetary, and real sector policies.
This body should not just advise, but actively coordinate and correct excesses.
To cite an example, he says if fiscal discipline is being used to cover up poor revenue performance, someone must be able to tell the President the real truth on the grounds for action to be taken.
“If your finance minister is not spending money because he’s not able to raise money, because he’s messed up the revenue measures, and he’s covering up by just saying fiscal discipline, there’s somebody to tell the president,” he noted.
Not Just Another Adviser — A System with Authority
Oppong Nkrumah makes it clear that a presidential economic adviser alone is not enough. Advisers can be ignored. What is needed is an institutional structure, similar to the National Security Council, that balances interests, resolves conflicts, and ensures cohesion.
He warned that allowing too much power to rest with a single ministry risks lopsided outcomes, sometimes good, but disastrous when wrong.
“Otherwise, you will have an overmighty subject, one ministry holding so much sway over the economy, despite the fact that they play a very important role,” he added.
He continued, “And the reality is that in economic management, if it gets lopsided, you will have things moving in a particular direction that, if it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s very, very, very terrible. So you want a system where those handling monetary policy are reporting, and they are being guided.”
Should This Be Backed by Law?
On whether such a body should be created by law, his answer was firm. He emphasized that, in his personal view and not that of his party, such an economic policy coordination committee should be systemised.
Ghana’s governance, he argued, should not depend on whether a President is particularly competent or well-intentioned. Strong systems reduce national risk.
However, he acknowledged that such legislation would have to come from the executive, not Parliament, due to constitutional limits.
“My personal view is that by law we should create it so that we systemize the solutions to some of our challenges as a country. It should not be left to a good President Kuffour to do it, and everybody else to do otherwise and have challenges. It should not be left to a good President Akufo-Addo to do it or a good President Mahama to do it. It should be systematized so that the risks of failure are reduced for the Republic,” he maintained.
Could it Be Another Bureaucracy?
Critics may argue this would create yet another bureaucracy, but Oppong Nkrumah disagrees.
For him, bureaucracy in itself is not bad if it delivers results. He cited the National Health Insurance Authority as an example of an institution that has saved lives despite early scepticism.
The question is not whether to build institutions, but whether we will use them well.
“Bureaucracy is not necessarily a bad thing. The view should be to utilise that bureaucracy to deliver results to the people. And in this case, I think that this is a bureaucracy that is very necessary,” he explained.
The Bottomline
You don’t win matches by leaving players to improvise. You win with a coach, a technical bench, and a clear game plan.
He is convinced that without a strong economic “technical team” coordinating policies across government, Ghana risks repeating the same mistakes, such as poor alignment, weak accountability, and missed growth opportunities.
Any government that ignores this reality, he says, “will suffer the fruits of poor economic policy coordination.”
