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Opinions of Friday, 24 November 2023

Columnist: Onyame Daniel Tetteh

The head of Ghana’s economic management goes to China to borrow but refuses to learn 24 hour economy from them

Onyame Daniel Tetteh Onyame Daniel Tetteh

Dr Bawumia the head of Ghana’s economic management team refuses to learn but borrows in a cap-in-hand manner from China exposing his bereft of ideas.

His condemnation of His Excellency John Mahama’s brilliant 24-hour economy policy raises questions about Dr Bawumia’s understanding of how thriving economies such as the Chinese and others function and operate within a 24-hour cyclical order for economic growth, jobs, and robustness.

Why does Bawumia cherish borrowing from China but reject learning? Dr Bawumia must learn from China! Learn from the visible economic turnabout of China which is a 24-hour base. Listening to Dr Bawumia's debunking of the 24-hour economy exposes his poor understanding of practical, functional, and robust 24/7 economies globally.

H. E the vice president goes to China to borrow money to run the economy but fails to learn from them. It sounds good?

Mr vice President, if your campaign style and “message” are all about rubbishing visionary leader H.E. John Dramani Mahama’s ideas on how best to revive the economy of our dear nation which you contributed to collapsing as the head of the economic management team, then you must begin to revise your notes because, it is outmoded, old fashion and no well-meaning Ghanaian is interested in it.

This time around Ghanaians are yearning for a leader who is well-versed and understands what it takes to lead them. The teeming Ghanaian youth are excited about the 24-hour economy proposed by a visionary leader. It is a job-creation economy. A problem solver model.

China offers a veritable example of a robust functioning 24-hour economy. China's economy tells us a practical, doable, and workable example of a 24-hour full-speed, and productive world functional economy. The proposal by His Excellency Mahama is ongoing within the context of the Chinese economy.

The Chinese economy works day and night. To be laconic, it works 24/7 unabated. The model used is simple. There has been an infrastructural and enabling environment created to facilitate this 24-hour economy. In cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Yiwu, Changsha, and Beijing people and companies don’t sleep. 24/7 activation.

China’s 24-hour primary economy is based on production of goods and materials. The production sector works underground, factories and companies are operating 24/7. The shift system operates on the same model as daytime. This has increased employment and production. The GDP has increased. China’s 24-hour economy has boosted its economic growth and employment.

There is a quantum leap in the production and distribution of goods within China and outside China. Factories and companies in textiles, baby diapers, mobile phones, television and electronics, construction, and food processing all operate a 24-hour economy.

Ask Bawumia how could China produce to feed the world's needs. Railway lines and construction, roads, schools, and communities are built at night. The speed that this adds to economic growth is conspicuous. Didn’t Dr Bawumia see this when he came to China for loans and aid?

The service sector in China is a 24-hour economy base. China has developed a system where goods and services are delivered quickly and efficiently at a low-cost basis. Systems and structures are developed based on security, for easy and convenient delivery of goods and services.

Delivery services dubbed “kuaidi service” in China are a 24-hour economy engine. It operates around the clock. It has employed millions of dispatch personnel and millions of thousands of youths in China. This has boosted their economic growth. Ghana can learn best practices and lessons from China. This is a day-and-night economy.

Logistics, consultancy, and service industries operate at night. The benefits of the 24-hour economy on the socio-economic development of Ghana if introduced will be enormous and immeasurable. It is only myopic and pessimistic minds who will laugh at this feasible and excellent economic policy agenda setting.

The 24-hour economy proposed by His Excellency Mahama is a laudable and groundbreaking intervention to save Ghana’s ailing economy. This requires strong policy agenda-setting and formulation. The discourse about the proposal must be educative and national in tone and path not playing hanky-panky as Dr Bawumia is doing with it.

The 24-hour economy will reduce the unemployment rate. It will boost growth and development. The NDC China Chapter is in support of it.

Dr Bawumia must learn from the Chinese case to broaden his horizons and appreciate the contributions that the successful implementation of the 24-hour economy will bring to Ghana’s economic transformation.

It is instructive for us to draw Dr Bawumia’s attention to the fact that the 24-hour economy is doable and working. Examples exist in advanced economies and in the case of China it is robust and ubiquitous among the Chinese economy.

Long live Ghana.
Long Live JDM
Long live the NDC