The 24-Hour Economy is not a policy, it's an aspirational idea - Franklin Cudjoe

Ghanaian political commentator and Founder of the Imani Centre for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe, has shared his insights on President-Elect John Dramani Mahama's plans to fix the economy and reset Ghana.

Speaking in an interview with DW, Cudjoe described Mahama's vision of a 24-Hour Economy as aspirational, noting that it requires significant reductions in taxes, bureaucracy, and interest rates to relieve the pressure on Ghanaians.

“Unemployment has been a major issue, and I think the 24-Hour Economy is not a policy. I mean, I see it as an aspirational idea that if all the conditions, reduction in taxes, the cost of doing business being high, taxes and all this red tape and bureaucracy and interest rate being high, if they can do something about it, at least we can begin to (sic) some sort of pressure because Ghanaians are suffocating under a deluge of taxes. 40 of them right now, and they're just too wild and too punitive. And I think even if he manages to reduce them by half, he would have started the process of resetting the economy," he said.

He expressed his surprise at the governance issues under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a known defender of human rights and economic rights.

He suggested that Mahama's call for a reset aims to avoid repeating these "darker periods" and to reset the governance architecture.

While the economy is crucial, Cudjoe stated that improving governance is the first step towards economic recovery.

“When President Mahama says a reset or restart, in part it means that we'll try not to witness or try not to replay those darker periods again. And so for me, it's more of an issue of governance than probably even the economy.

“Of course, economy matters as well. But reset would essentially look like resetting the whole governance architecture again, and then maybe from there we'll begin to unwind some of the knots around the economy as we have,” he said.

Reflecting on Mahama's previous administration, Franklin Cudjoe pointed out the need for better communication and responsiveness to public criticisms.

He recalled Mahama's past remarks about the economy, urging the president-elect to avoid such statements in the future.

“For those of us who were criticising him, those ones, I suspect he would never ever go back to them again,” he said.

Watch the full interview below:



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