Planning institutions in African countries:justification, philosophy and nature of planning

Abstract

Why should a group of planners in the central government assume the task of planning for the economic and social welfare of the rest of the population? Why should they assume that they know better than the rest of the population what is good for them? The justification for government planning must be that it is a process and a program desired by the people themselves. This means that planning and its execution must be a two-way process. There are those who hold the view that the people are too ignorant or illiterate to comprehend what the nature and implications of planning are; that, in any case, even in the most literate and advance communities the populace cannot pass on details and it is up to a party to formulate the issues and alternatives so that they can be presented to the voters for a broad "yes" or "no". These people operate on a faulty theory concerning the planning as well as the political process.