Ghanaians expect 24-hour economy to deliver jobs as promised by Mahama — Dr. Zaato

Policy Analyst and opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) member, Dr. Joshua Zaato, has said many Ghanaians are eager to see how the government’s 24-hour economy policy will practically tackle the country’s unemployment crisis.

The 24-hour economy policy, launched on Wednesday, July 2, aims to drive productivity by encouraging businesses to operate three shifts daily, with the government proposing corporate tax rebates for participating companies.

Speaking at the launch, President John Dramani Mahama described it as a revival of Ghana’s founding vision of industrial transformation, first championed by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

However, speaking on TV3’s KeyPoints show on Saturday, July 5, Dr. Zaato described the policy as ambitious but questioned whether the incentives outlined by the government will be enough to make businesses adopt a round-the-clock operational model.

“Throughout the campaign, the most important aspect of this policy was that it was going to solve unemployment. A lot of young people are asking for jobs, and they are hoping that with this new policy, it’s going to happen,” he said.

He explained that the proposed approach involves offering companies tax rebates to encourage additional shifts and create more employment opportunities.

But he stressed that the assumption businesses are not running extended shifts due to a lack of incentives may be flawed.

“The argument seems to be that the reason why companies are not doing three or four shifts is because they don’t have incentives. But if you run a law firm and close at 5pm, is it because of a lack of incentives? I don’t think so,” Dr. Zaato stated.