Tema-Ghana, Dec. 29, GNA – Dr. Benjamin Anyagre, the General Secretary of the Ghana China Friendship Association (GHACHIFA), has said that for Ghana to consider institutionalising a 24-hour economy, such a policy must be built on job choices and employment opportunities.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has proposed that the next National Democratic Congress government would introduce a 24-hour economy policy which has been described by many as a game-changer for Ghana.
Dr Anyagre noted that Ghana in the past was able to create such a 24-hour economy in places like the industrial city of Tema because the foundation for job creation was set right.
He said the prerequisite for a sustainable 24-hour economy was the availability of means of production like industries, factories, and community-based service delivery activities.
“A glance at the economies of developed and developing countries like China shows that they are strongly positioned for the creation of job opportunities,” he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema.
He added that in the 1960s, the Ghanaian government then carried out an industrialization growth, noting that one could easily refer to Tema as the industrial hub of Ghana, which had a chocolate factory, a radio assembly plant (Kasanoma), textile industries, a Tema oil refinery, a Ghana printing press, fishing, and the main harbour, among others.
He stated that the then Western Region also had Abuso glass factory, Bonsa tyre, Tarkwa gold refinery, and many other cottage industries.
He said the northern part of the country also had the Bolga meat factory and Pwalugu tomato factory, among others, indicating that, “the 24-hour economy was then very visible in these cited areas, with jobs galore at day and night.”
The GHACHIFA General Secretary said the way to effect a well-packaged 24-hour economy in today’s Ghana was to stretch a hand out to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) opportunities dubbed the “Project of the Century” by China.
According to him, many countries have ascribed to it and benefited, including many in Africa, adding that the 10-year multibillion-dollar project has helped to bring roads, rails, and infrastructure to many poor countries.
He said Gambia was benefiting from road infrastructure, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia from rail connectivity, and Djibouti from port infrastructure.
He indicated that since agricultural projects were part of the BRI, it could create the needed rail and road connectivity to endow agricultural zones in Ghana; this, he noted, would help grow the agribusiness industry with its inherited gains for the growing youth interested in agriculture and the country at large.
He said the introduction of the IMF structural adjustment programmes over the years did not add anything to Ghana’s economy, as its policy instructions killed many of Ghana’s industries, disabling them with others grounded to the mercy of the environment.
“Now, an option to the IMF policy instructions keen on conditions unfriendly to citizens is the introduced Belt and Road Initiative with billions of funds to undertake projects in underdeveloped nations based on a mutually agreed-upon “win-win engineering,” he stated.
He stressed that the IMF-related policies were yet to be built or created, but under the BRI, Sentuo Oil Refinery has built a refinery in Tema, which has employed thousands of workers, therefore providing a justification to give more consideration to the BRI for economic growth.
