A Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana and Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Scrutiny, Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has criticised the government’s implementation of its 24-hour economy policy, describing the process as “far from reality” and inconsistent with the policy document.
According to him, although the government’s 287-page 24-hour economy document contains well-researched ideas and a comprehensive diagnosis of Ghana’s economic challenges, there is a significant gap between the proposals contained in the document and what is currently being implemented.
The 24-Hour Economy is a flagship programme of the current government, which is to ensure that the economy operates around the clock, with heavy investment in key sectors of the economy.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, July 25, 2026, Dr Sarkodie said the much-touted “1-3-3” economic transformation agenda appears only once in the entire policy document.
“When you read the 24-hour economy document, about 287 pages, we have done a thorough review of the document. What you see in that document are brilliant ideas. In fact, I have not read any government document that is so well-researched,” he said.
“But where is the implementation? And so when you promise 1-3-3, and when you go to the document, 1-3-3 appears only once on page 18, only once out of 287 pages,” he stated.
Dr Sarkodie further questioned the government’s decision to focus on the construction of 24-hour economy markets while, in his view, the productive capacity needed to sustain such markets had not yet been sufficiently developed.
“The narration has always been economic transformation, economic transformation, and that the economic transformation is the process and the 1-3-3 shift is a destination. And therefore, we should finish the process before the destination,” he explained.
He added: “But why are you building markets? Why are you building a 24-hour economy market? Because when you build markets, and you have not transformed and produced, what you are going to sell there are still imported commodities.”
Dr Sarkodie argued that the government needed to align its implementation with the objectives and recommendations contained in the 24-hour economy policy document.
“What is being promised, what is contained in the document, and what is being done are completely different things. And I don’t think that it is good for us. I think the government should do well,” he said.
