Accra, Ghana — Former Finance Minister and current Member of Parliament for Karaga, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has launched a blistering critique of the government’s flagship 24-hour economy policy, describing it as “a scam” and “dead on arrival.” His remarks, made in a Facebook post on May 20, 2026, have intensified scrutiny of the initiative, which was announced with fanfare but has struggled to gain traction.
Dr. Amin Adam argued that the policy is fundamentally flawed because it forces public agencies to operate around the clock without increasing staff or resources. With the public wage bill already consuming 30 percent of the national budget — projected to rise to 33 percent in 2025 — he warned that doubling personnel to sustain 24-hour operations would bankrupt the country. “Even the most reckless government cannot do this,” he wrote, stressing that expectations of job creation through public sector expansion are unrealistic.
The former minister emphasized that the policy was supposed to be private-sector led, yet nearly half a year into implementation, government has failed to deliver the incentive package promised in the 2026 Budget. Without tax breaks, energy subsidies, or regulatory support, businesses have little reason to extend operations into the night. He further revealed that the 24-Hour Economy Secretariat, which was allocated GHS110 million this year, has been starved of funds. “The Secretariat is in coma as government has not been releasing funds,” he declared, underscoring the paralysis at the heart of the initiative.
Dr. Amin Adam contrasted the current administration’s approach with the digitalization agenda pursued under the previous NPP government led by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. He highlighted reforms that digitized passport applications, ports, driver licensing, and vehicle registration, while introducing a motor insurance database that curbed fraud. Platforms such as Ghana.Gov streamlined payments for public services, and the E-Pharmacy system expanded access to medicines nationwide. The integration of the National Identification database with institutions including SSNIT, NHIS, the Ghana Revenue Authority, banks, and mobile money platforms created a centralized system that improved efficiency and transparency.
These reforms, Amin Adam argued, demonstrated how technology could extend access to services “at all times” without ballooning the wage bill, while simultaneously creating an enabling environment for private enterprise to thrive. They stand in sharp contrast to the current administration’s 24-hour economy, which remains stuck between rhetoric and reality.
The policy was positioned by the ruling NDC administration as a framework for job creation and productivity expansion. But Amin Adam’s intervention underscores the growing perception that the initiative is collapsing under its own contradictions. Without private sector incentives and with the Secretariat starved of funds, the 24-hour economy risks being remembered not as a transformative idea but as a political mirage.
The contrast is stark: while the NPP’s digitalization drive reshaped public service delivery and improved efficiency, the current administration’s 24-hour economy is faltering. Unless government pivots quickly to deliver the promised incentives and release funds, the initiative may join the long list of policies that promised much but delivered little.
