Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy, a flagship policy under President John Dramani Mahama’s administration, is increasingly being misunderstood as a simple job-creation programme through night shifts and extended working hours.
However, according to IMANI’s Analysis, the public narrative belies a much more intricate and far-reaching agenda. The 24-Hour Economy blueprint holds a bold systemic transformation that links agriculture, industrial growth, manufacturing, and human capital into one interdependent “engine of national productivity.”
“Public perception at the outset was simple: Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy would extend working hours and create more jobs. But the full policy blueprint reveals something far more ambitious, a cohesive structural transformation agenda”
IMANI Africa
The misconception, IMANI observed, stems from the immediate visibility of employment opportunities. But the think tank stressed that jobs are not the primary objective. Rather, they are a consequence of a functioning ecosystem driven by robust, interconnected systems.
At its core, the 24-Hour Economy is about “making the economy work better, deeper, and more sustainably.”
Central to the policy is agriculture, which IMANI described as the bedrock of Ghana’s industrial vision. The analysis pointed to a clear policy shift – moving away from fragmented agricultural programmes toward a production-led strategy that feeds agro-processing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and more.
IMANI noted, “You cannot industrialize what you cannot produce.” More so, the policy blueprint draws direct links between reducing food imports, stabilizing forex through local raw materials, and establishing strong supply chains between rural farms and urban factories.
According to IMANI, this approach marks a distinct departure from previous models and highlights the government’s awareness of agriculture’s role in the macroeconomic and industrial ecosystem.
Demanding Groundwork
The policy lays out five key Strategic Manufacturing Value Chains (SMVs): agro-processing, textiles and garments, pharmaceuticals, machinery and technology, and medicinal herbs and food supplements.
These sectors are intended to drive the industrial backbone of the 24-Hour Economy. However, IMANI raised questions about whether the necessary groundwork is being laid.
In the textiles and garments sector, for example, plans to expand Akosombo Textiles Limited and Tex Styles Ghana into full-scale manufacturing hubs are ambitious. Yet, Ghana’s cotton production remains minimal and fragmented.
IMANI warned that without reviving the cotton value chain – from cultivation to spinning and weaving – the strategy risks dependence on imported yarn, which undercuts the goal of self-reliance and global competitiveness.
“Compare this to Benin, which built a thriving cotton sector first, then developed the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone to convert that raw cotton into high-value textile exports”
IMANI Africa
For the 24-Hour Economy to succeed, IMANI insisted that deeper questions must be asked. “Do we have the land governance, irrigation, and agro-credit infrastructure to scale raw material production competitively?” the analysis queried.
It added that implementation success will depend heavily on whether Ghana can align research, technical education, and financing to the needs of each SMV.
Without these systemic reforms and investments, Ghana could industrialize on paper while importing the very raw materials it claims to domesticate. “That’s not transformation, it’s repackaged dependency.”
Cohesive but Fragile Vision
In IMANI’s assessment, the 24-Hour Economy reflects a matured economic vision – one that seeks to synchronize production, supply chains, industrial capacity, and human capital development into a cohesive loop.
This vision, the think tank argued, is a significant leap from ad hoc development models of the past. However, the sustainability of the plan hinges on one fundamental outcome: the creation and strengthening of local value chains.
Without robust, domestically anchored supply systems for agriculture, poultry, cotton, and other vital sectors, the policy may become another ambitious framework hamstrung by practical deficiencies.
The think tank’s analysis ultimately returned to a simple but critical test: performance over policy language. The ambition is commendable, but implementation will demand more than blueprints. It requires deliberate, strategic, and long-term investment in the productivity of Ghana’s raw material base.
As Ghana moves deeper into the Mahama administration’s second term, the 24-Hour Economy stands as both a litmus test and a legacy project. “It must deliver more than buzzwords and night shifts.” It must reshape the systems that produce, connect, and sustain Ghana’s economy – hour by hour.
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