New Economy: Account for 24-Hour Economy, Big Push before introducing new programme – NPP MP to gov't

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya Kwabre North, Collins Adomako-Mensah, has questioned the government's rationale for introducing the proposed New Economy programme without adequately accounting for the performance of its existing economic policies.

He argued that the government must provide evidence of its achievements under flagship initiatives such as the 24-Hour Economy and the Big Push before introducing another four-year economic programme.

Speaking on Accra-based Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana show on Wednesday, November 11, the NPP legislator said the 24-Hour Economy had failed to create jobs on the scale promised by the government.

"What have you done on the old economy to introduce a New Economy?" he questioned.

Adomako-Mensah acknowledged that some businesses, including the Ghana Publishing Company, were operating multiple shifts but insisted that such developments fell short of the scale envisaged under the government's 24-Hour Economy policy.

He argued that the initiative is expected to create widespread employment opportunities through a three-shift system, but its implementation had not delivered the anticipated results.

The MP further questioned whether the introduction of the New Economy represented an admission by the government that its existing economic policies had not achieved their intended objectives.

He said Ghanaians needed detailed information on the implementation of the previous programmes to assess whether the new initiative was an enhancement of existing policies or a departure from the commitments made ahead of the 2024 general elections.

"If you want to get some comfort in the New Economy, the old ones, the Big Push, the 24-Hour Economy, there should be some data to tell us how far we've come with those two before we can get some comfort in the new one," he said.