Minority criticizes 24-Hour Economy, calls it a failed policy
The Minority caucus in Parliament has taken a swipe at the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, accusing it of failing to deliver on some key campaign promises after coming into power.
According to the caucus, the current government’s victory in the December 2024 elections came from what it described as lofty promises, including a flagship 24-Hour Economy which it says has failed, leaving many Ghanaian youths with no hopes of employment.
Speaking to the press in a post-budget discussion on Friday, November 14, former Finance Minister Dr. Amin Adam questioned the actual impact of the programme, describing it as a poorly planned and confusing mix of policy ideas with no clear implementation arrangement.
“The current administration secured the mandate of Ghanaians on the back of lofty pledges to transform the economic paradigm of our beloved nation, yet unfortunately those promises have not materialized
“You remember the 24-Hour Economy, which the government launched this year. This program was said to be a job creation policy with a homegrown formula and they told us 133, one job 3 people, three shifts. But what has happened so far?” he questioned.
Dr. Amin Adam further claimed that youths who were promised numerous jobs under the 24-Hour Economy continue to roam the streets while farmers and traders complain of poor sales due to weak demand. This he said, is the human cost of poor implementation.
On the programme’s finances, the former finance minister stated that the government is expected to contribute between 300 to 400 million dollars of the estimated $4 billion total cost, asserting however that there were discrepancies in the total amount of funding allocated for the programme in the 2026 budget.
“We are going into the second year since the program was launched, yet the government failed to announce in the 2026 budget the allocation of 90 million Ghana cedis to the 24-Hour Economy for 2026. In fact, the minister said 110 million Ghana cedis for 2026, but if you get to the appendix, you will see only 90 million Ghana cedis allocated towards 24-Hour Economy
“70 million of this is for goods and services, and 20 million of this is for CAPEX. This can best be described as tokenism, given that the programme is the main development blueprint of the NDC government,” claimed, and maintained that the programme is struggling to achieve its goals, and is therefore unlikely to create the 1:3:3-job model it promised.
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