Bright Simons, IMANI Africa’s Honorary Vice President, has said the John Mahama government’s 24-Hour Economy is far bigger than Jobs.
According to Bright Simons, when the 24-Hour Economy policy is mention everyone in Ghana immediately thinks about jobs, arguing that the opposition NPP has made it about three shifts coming to every workplace.
He noted that a few people may have read the full 24-Hour Economy strategy, adding that the policy is ambitious.
Bright Simon highlighted that he does not even think the ruling NDC are fully abreast of how gigantic the scope is.
The IMANI Africa Honorary Vice President noted that for the 24-Hour Economy to work, every development partnership with Ghana must pivot and align.
In a post on X, Bright Simon wrote, “1. If you mention the 24-Hour Economy policy in Ghana, everybody immediately thinks about jobs.
2. The Opposition has even made it about “shifts” and I hear jabs and taunts every so often about when the “three shifts” will be coming to every workplace.
3. When the Afro-German think tank, APRI, asked that I reflect on German-Ghana relations and advise on its future course, I thought initially of digging further into how German banks became some of the largest lenders for large infrastructure projects in Ghana (they got their fingers burnt in the debt default, but there are plans to rebuild confidence).
4. Then it hit me that few people have read the full 24-Hour Economy strategy and thus have no idea how ambitious it is. I don’t think even the ruling party people are fully abreast of how gigantic the scope is. Surely, if a policy of that magnitude is ever going to work, then every “development partnership” with Ghana must pivot and align.
5. That is how this APRI research note came to be written:
https://afripoli.org/germany-cant-upskill-ghana-into-a-24-hour-economy-but-there-is-a-smarter-path
6. It has a simple argument: in the past, Germany played to its strengths in Ghana and Ghana’s single-minded focus on industrialisation was the proving ground for mutual benefit. Over the years, Germany’s involvement in Ghana’s true priorities has become marginal, wasting a useful legacy of strategic win-win cooperation. Both sides should revisit the pact.
7. Of course, Germany does not have the resources or responsibility to make 24-Hour (or any structural transformation agenda, for that matter) succeed. It is the Ghanaian elite and leadership that must harness the tools, resources, and vision to transform their own country.
8. However, if any country claims that it wants to help, and the political reality remains that Ghana continues to entertain these formal relationships based on a mutual understanding of collaboration, then the only sensible thing is to aim at priorities, not marginalities.
9. It doesn’t matter whether the foreign country in question is China, America, Nigeria, South Africa, or, indeed, Germany. Relationships must be oriented around the high stakes. Around opportunities of equal significance.
10. Right now, German engagement with Ghana is too scattered around useful but not sufficiently high-stakes efforts such as technical & vocational education, green & climate solutions, SMEs, and the like.
11. We argue that the bulk of energy and resources should shift towards productive infrastructure in industrial corridors for jobs.
12. Private German Banks funding the Kejetia market in Kumasi was very nice. But Kejetia is being swamped by cheap imported trinkets. We can upscale the ambition. On both sides, Ghanaian and German”.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has officially signed the 24-Hour Economy Authority Bill into law.
The signing paves the way for the full implementation of the Mahama government’s flagship economic policy.
According to John Mahama, the 24-hour economy authority will now have to move from strategy to implementation following his signing of the bill into law.
Speaking after he signed the bill into law, President Mahama stated, “Cabinet colleagues, I just appended my signature to give assent to the 24-hour Authority Bill. This Bill, which Ghanaians have been waiting for, was one of our flagship strategies for economic transformation.”
“Now we must move from strategy to implementation. The business sector is waiting, Ghanaian investors are waiting, foreign investors are waiting”, President Mahama added.
He added, “They want to see the package of incentives that we can afford, so that they can invest more and expand productivity and also create more employment for our young people, and so it’s my pleasure to assent to this Bill today.”
See the post below:
1. If you mention the 24-Hour Economy policy in Ghana, everybody immediately thinks about jobs.
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) February 19, 2026
2. The Opposition has even made it about "shifts" and I hear jabs and taunts every so often about when the "three shifts" will be coming to every workplace.
3. When Afro-German think…