The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mark Badu Aboagye, has raised red flags over the viability of the government’s proposed 24-hour economy policy, cautioning that without concrete incentives and effective implementation, the initiative could end up as “just another slogan.”
Mr. Badu Aboagye acknowledged that while such policies are often well-conceived and articulated, their success has historically been undermined by poor execution.
“Well-documented policies, well-articulated policies, but implementation has always been the challenge,” he noted, referencing both the proposed 24-hour economy and past industrial initiatives.
He emphasized that the private sector remains the backbone of job creation in Ghana, arguing that government alone lacks the capacity to address unemployment challenges. According to him, the public sector employs only about 6% of the labour force, leaving approximately 94% in the hands of private enterprises.
“There is no way government alone can solve the unemployment problem we have… So it’s the private sector that we must empower. We must create the right conditions,” he stressed.
Mr. Badu Aboagye revealed that while the GNCCI has been engaged in consultations regarding the policy, deeper stakeholder involvement is required. He disclosed that a scheduled meeting with Gossie Tannoh to further discuss the framework was postponed due to travel commitments, though preliminary engagements have taken place.
Drawing parallels with the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative, he described it as a “brilliant policy” that ultimately fell short due to implementation gaps.
“If governments had even implemented just 50% of it, all these employment issues would have been solved,” he argued.
He further questioned whether the 24-hour economy is genuinely structured as a private sector-driven initiative or merely framed as such in rhetoric. Central to his concerns is the absence of clear, accessible incentives to attract business participation.
“People who can access this funding… the real private sector people find out from them whether they were able to get some of this funding,” he remarked.
Mr. Badu Aboagye warned that without deliberate and transparent policy execution, the 24-hour economy risks failing to deliver meaningful outcomes. He urged policymakers to move beyond political messaging and focus on creating a genuinely enabling environment for businesses.
“It shouldn’t be just a political slogan… They are a brilliant idea. But how is the private sector taking it up?” he questioned.