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Opinions of Thursday, 14 December 2023

Columnist: Hanan Sule

John Mahama's 24- hour economy policy proposal panacea to Ghana's dwindling economy

NDC's presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama NDC's presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama

The 24-hour economy policy proposed by John Dramani Mahama is going to be the game changer and the panacea to the ailing economy we're faced with as a country.

The economic proposal, by John Mahama, is said to work and cover the following areas:

24- hour- Agro-processing

24 -hour Pharmaceutical industry

24- hour Manufacturing industry

24 -hour Construction

24-hour Extractive industry ( mining and Quarrying)

24-hour Sanitation and Waste Management

24-hour Leisure and Hospitality industry

24-hour Digital Start-Ups and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

24-hour Financial Services

24- Retail Centers

24-hour transportation services

24-hour system with some selected public institutions such as the Passport Office, the DVLA, the Ports and Harbour, and Customs.

The aforementioned is clearly the panacea to making Ghana an economic powerhouse of Africa as no hands are going to be left out in this carefully crafted economic policy to engage all Ghanaians 24 hours working.

I have glanced through the policy document, detailing the nitty-gritty of it and there's no cause for an alarm. The policy is doable and achievable. Imagine everybody is working 24 hours daily, the economic growth and output are immeasurably great. Let's support these beautiful ideas for the benefit of the hungry, jobless teaming youth of our country. A retailer working 24 hours, a pharmacist working 24 hours, and a mechanic working 24 hours, will all add value to the nation's development.

Our courts are choked up with unresolved cases, and a 24-hour economy could offset and offload the backlog of cases with ease. When this is done, we can sit down and say we have a working economy.

The flimsy arguments coming from naysayers about its efficacy could be described as a kneejerk reaction and can't hold water and should be disregarded. There's no perfect policy globally, we have to start somewhere and as we move along the line, problems that crop up could be addressed.

But there's no fear, the policy framers had envisaged lots of problems that may affect the implementation of this economic policy and preempted solutions which I have seen. John Dramani Mahama, means well, for Mother Ghana, and Ghanaians, should be allowed to save this country from a total collapse.

For the 24-hour Economy to work effectively and positively, we need to have a robust surveillance system. By surveillance system, the 24-hour economy must run smoothly with no fear of robbery and burglary that's often characterised and associated with our markets across Ghana. Security should be tight and measures put in place to secure all markets from armed robbery and burglary attacks.

To achieve this, the Mahama administration must install street lights on all roads leading to markets and within markers. The police and the army should be patrolling those markets to Wade and scare away potential robbers that may attempt to rob people of their goods and money.

Lastly, John Mahama's 24-hour economic policy proposal is the first to be implemented in Africa and the game changer for Ghana, which you should embrace with both arms for economic benefits to yourself and the country at large. Let's build Ghana together by supporting John Mahama to implement this great idea and policy.