Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama has said that if he is voted for, his administration will at least start the implementation of the 24-hour economy even if it is unable to be implemented holistically for the four years that he would be in office.
He described the implementation of the policy proposal as a process, not an event to resuscitate the economy.
“We will start at least,” he answered in an interview with BBC Africa on Wednesday, December 4 when asked whether he would be able to implement it in four years.
Asked again how much it would cost his government to run this policy should he be voted for, Mr Mahama answered “You can’t put a cost on it immediately. The 24-hour economy is not an event, it is a process and so even while we are stabilising the macro economic environment and bringing inflation and interest rates down, we will be implementing the 24-hour economy, you are thinking about it as if we will wake up overnight as soon as I am sworn in and have a 24-hour economy.”
He further stated that “If you incentivise businesses to run for 8 hours, they can’t run with the same number of people, they will have to employ more people. The demand is there, we have the AfCFTA, we have the Ecowas Trade Liberalisation Scheme.”
Mr Mahama was further asked whether he would accept the result of this year’s general elections.
In answer, he told the BBC’s Thomas Naadi of BBC Africa, “If on the election day, there is widespread ballot snatching and beating of people, and the military moving and intimidate people, and shoot people and tugs are all over the place, rampaging, you want me to accept that result, it will depend on the transparency and fairness of the process.”
Ghanaians go to the polls on Saturday, December 7 to elect a president and Members of Parliament for the next four years starting January 6 2025.
View this post on Instagram
