The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has issued a firm directive that Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) without validated Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDPs) will not receive budgetary allocations for the 2026–2029 planning cycle.
Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Chairman of the NDPC, made this clear in Accra during the presentation of certificates of approval to selected MDAs and Regional Coordinating Councils. He stressed that fiscal resources would only be released to institutions whose development plans had been vetted and certified by the Commission.
“This is to ensure coherence in government programmes, promote fiscal discipline, and hold institutions accountable,” Dr. Thompson said, emphasizing that plans and budgets are inseparable tools for national development.
The requirement, he noted, is rooted in the 1992 Constitution, the National Development Planning System Act of 1994 (Act 480), the National Development Systems Regulations of 2016 (L.I. 2232), and the Public Financial Management Act of 2016 (Act 921).
To guide compliance, the NDPC and the Ministry of Finance have issued directives for preparing the 2026–2029 MTDPs, which will be rolled out nationwide in January 2026 across all 261 districts and 16 regions.
Dr. Audrey Smock-Amoah, Acting Director-General of the NDPC, revealed that only 18 of the 38 MDAs, four of the 16 Regional Coordinating Councils, and 64 of the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies had submitted their plans for review so far. She explained that the documents were assessed against national policy objectives across economic, social, environmental, infrastructure, governance, and spatial planning dimensions.
Among the institutions that received approval were the Ministries of Finance, Lands and Natural Resources, Attorney-General and Justice, Gender, Trade, Works and Housing, Local Government, and Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, along with the Greater Accra and Eastern Regional Coordinating Councils.
Dr. Smock-Amoah urged state institutions to see certification not as a bureaucratic formality but as a tool for delivering results, creating jobs, and driving prosperity.
The NDPC says the new compliance regime marks a turning point for national planning, where institutions must align their programmes with government policy or risk losing funding.
