By Amofa Baffoe, Republic of Ireland
The 24-Hour Economy does not mean every Ghanaian must work 24 hours, nor does it mean every business must remain open throughout the night.
It is an economic policy intended to enable and incentivise businesses and public services that can operate beyond the traditional 8am–5pm period to work multiple shifts, where economically viable.
In practical terms:
- A factory currently operating one 8-hour shift could be supported to operate two or three shifts, increasing production and creating additional jobs.
- Ports, logistics, transport, manufacturing, agro-processing, healthcare, hospitality, security, digital services and selected government services can operate for extended hours or continuously, depending on demand.
- The objective is to make better use of Ghana’s existing infrastructure and productive assets. A factory, port, processing plant or other expensive asset sitting idle for 16 hours every day represents unused productive capacity.
- It is also intended to encourage new investment and production, particularly in agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, tourism, logistics and other export-oriented industries.
- Government’s role is to create the enabling environment- including reliable energy, security, transport, financing/investment incentives, technology and appropriate labour arrangements- to make extended operations commercially viable.
- Most importantly, the programme is intended to create jobs by expanding productive activity, particularly opportunities for young people, while increasing exports and foreign-exchange earnings.
So the 24-Hour Economy should not be reduced to “shops opening at midnight” or people working 24 hours without rest.
Think of it this way: Ghana has 24 hours available every day, but much of our productive economy traditionally uses only about eight of them. The policy seeks to organise investment, infrastructure and labour so that appropriate sectors can productively use more of those hours through shifts.
We can certainly debate whether government is implementing it effectively, how many jobs it has actually created and whether the promised investment will materialise. Those are legitimate questions.
But first, we should distinguish the concept from its implementation.
