The CEO of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Seth Twum Akwaboah, has urged government to move beyond slogans and focus on the concrete policies and programmes needed to make Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy work.
He said the success of the policy should not be measured by the popularity of its name but by the practical steps taken to change the status quo.
“For me, I don’t bother so much about the clichés you create, whether it is 24-Hour Economy or 1D1F; that’s not really the issue for me. It is more of what you do within those policies,” he said on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday.
Mr Akwaboah said government must pay particular attention to how policies are developed and implemented.
“You can come up with any policy, but then, when you develop the policy, what has gone into the policy development? How consultative was its nature? What are the key policies or activities within the policy that you are trying to implement to change the status quo?” he asked.
His comments come as the government continues efforts to operationalise its flagship 24-hour economy policy, which is intended to expand economic activity beyond traditional working hours and create more opportunities for businesses and workers.
The AGI President acknowledged that the policy was initially unclear, leading to questions from businesses and other stakeholders.
He, however, said consultations with government have helped bring greater clarity to the initiative.
“I think we are making good progress because now it’s coming clearer. Government is defining,” he said.
Mr Akwaboah cautioned against expectations that the policy would transform the economy overnight.
“When you hear a cliché, when you hear a mention of something like that, sometimes the expectation is that overnight things will change and everything will be a 24-hour economy. It doesn’t happen like that,” he explained.
He compared the situation to the former government’s One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative.
“The same thing I said is that when we had the 1D1F. All of a sudden, you think that every district is going to have an industry? Government has mentioned it. It’s an intention. It’s a vision. How do we work towards it?” he said.
According to him, the focus should now be on identifying the specific interventions needed to make the 24-hour economy a reality.
“But then we need to define the specific activities and policies and programs we are going to do to make that happen,” he said.
Mr Akwaboah said government has made progress by launching a blueprint for the initiative, which he believes contains ideas capable of transforming economic activity if properly implemented.
“And gradually they are coming to that point where now they’ve launched a blueprint, and then in it there are a lot of interesting ideas. If we’re able to implement it to the letter, I’m sure it will help change a lot of things,” he said.
He reaffirmed the AGI’s support for the policy and said the association is already engaging the 24-hour economy secretariat on its implementation.
“So for me, I embrace it just as we embraced the 1D1F, AGI embraces the 24-hour economy, and we are working with government,” he said.
“We are working with the 24-hour economy secretariat to implement some of the things they said they will implement. If we’re able to do it, it will be a game changer,” he added.
