Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has stated that the proposed 24-hour economy is achievable but must be driven by effective demand to succeed.
The 24-hour economy is one of the flagship policies of the John Dramani Mahama administration.
The policy seeks to enable businesses to operate around the clock. After several debates in Parliament, the bill was passed, and an authority was established to oversee its implementation.
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“GIHOC announced that they were doing 24-hours, a few moments later, the MD came back to say they are going to cut back on the 24-hour shift, because it did not make economic sense to run 24 hours,” he said.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah stressed that while the concept is workable, it must be grounded in strong economic fundamentals.
“So, it is doable, but it must be premised on effective demand. When you have created an economy that has demand, you do not need to set up an authority to tell people to go and work 24-hours,” he stated.
Drawing a practical example, he added, “If you run a cold store, and at 11:50 pm, there are people in front of your shop with cash in their hands, would you close your store? The other day in Parliament, we gave examples of cities that were running a 24-hour economy, but none of them set up an authority. You focus on creating the demand.”