By Lawrence Odoom/Phalonzy
The government’s flagship 24-Hour Economy policy has come under blistering criticism, with Resident Country Director of International Investment LLC, Ibrahim Adjei, branding the initiative a “scam” in the wake of relentless power outages crippling businesses nationwide.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Monday, April 27, Mr Adjei castigated the policy’s viability, contending that chronic electricity disruptions fundamentally sabotage any prospect of sustaining a round-the-clock economic framework.
He cautioned that the prevailing power crisis is not only strangling enterprises but also steadily corroding investor confidence.
“If they’re not killing us with galamsey, they’re killing us economically with power outages that destroy businesses,” he asserted, underscoring the debilitating ripple effects of the outages on productivity and broader economic stability.
Mr Adjei further excoriated the policy’s architecture, particularly its touted “1-3-3” model premised on one job, three shifts, and uninterrupted operations dismissing it as disingenuous and wholly impractical under present conditions.
“What kind of 24-hour economy is this?” he queried, imploring the public to scrutinize the policy with greater discernment. “Call it what it is, a 419 agenda,” he added, insinuating that the initiative is a grand deception unlikely to materialize on its pledges.
He expressed profound skepticism about the government’s capacity to operationalize the policy within the stipulated timeframe, arguing that even with an extended horizon, the requisite infrastructure to underpin such an economy remains conspicuously absent.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has assented to the 24-Hour Economy Authority Bill, formally enacting it into law and clearing the path for full-scale implementation. The legislation establishes a specialized authority mandated to coordinate and superintend the nationwide rollout of the policy.