Ghana’s President John Mahama has begun implementing one of his key campaign promises — revitalizing the nation’s economy. According to Mahama, it is essential to make the West African country less dependent on traditional industries and move toward a more diversified economic structure. He intends to achieve this through the creation of a so-called 24-hour economy, which is designed not only to generate employment but also to transform Ghana from an import-dependent to a self-sustaining economy.
Under the plan, various sectors would operate in three eight-hour shifts each day, with public and private entities working together to keep the economy running around the clock. Initially, the initiative will focus on key areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, and essential services but could later expand into other sectors. Mahama hopes to boost Ghana’s economic output by tripling the operational hours of major industries from eight to twenty-four hours per day. By the end of the decade, this ambitious policy aims to create 1.7 million new jobs nationwide, potentially reducing unemployment by five percent.
However, questions remain about the feasibility of the policy and its implementation. Economist Daniel Anim Amarteye has estimated that around four billion U.S. dollars would be needed to advance the 24-hour initiative — while Ghana already owes three billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On paper, Amarteye said, the program sounds innovative and progressive, with the potential to transform Ghana’s economy. It aims to create jobs, increase productivity, and lift people out of poverty. Many university graduates are currently unemployed, and if successful, such a program could boost the country’s GDP.
In practice, however, financing the initiative poses the greatest challenge. It remains unclear which “private sector” actors Mahama expects to help fund the plan, as most private companies in Ghana lack the capital to contribute. This means that the government would likely have to shoulder the financial burden — a difficult prospect given the country’s already high public debt. Another major obstacle is infrastructure: Ghana continues to struggle with an unreliable power supply.
Observers view it positively that Mahama’s plan does not rely solely on a top-down approach. While led by his administration, the 24-hour economy initiative is based on a cooperative model involving labor unions, private businesses, and international development partners. However, there is concern that larger private companies could dominate the process, sidelining smaller enterprises and their specific challenges.
According to Amarteye, the 24-hour economy is just one of several paths toward improving Ghana’s economic conditions. He recommends reviving and expanding the previous government’s One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative, which focused on job creation but is currently suspended.
At a deeper level, Amarteye argues that the country’s overall attitude is a key obstacle to progress. Many Ghanaians, he says, work for the government but few trust it. Mahama aims to rebuild public confidence in government reliability by creating transparent and accountable institutions. Yet he also emphasizes that workers themselves must change their mindset for the 24-hour economy to succeed. He believes Ghanaians are still influenced by the colonial legacy of prioritizing administrative education over technical and vocational training — a situation that must change if the country is to achieve genuine economic transformation.
