Implementing Mahama's 24 hour economy policy Part 6

Part 6: Improved institutional, legal and regulatory environment for the functioning of 24 Hour Economy

Part 6 of this series of articles presents an implementation strategy for improved institutional, legal and regulatory environment for the functioning of 24HE. This is Outcome 2 of the High-Level Program Design outlined in Part 2 of this article series.

Chapter 2 of the NDC 2024 Manifesto outlines four broad measures to deliver this outcome

They are refocus and strengthen the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (the Ministry); amend and expand the scope of existing labour and decent work laws; enact a competition law; and mainstream jobs and decent work considerations in all public policy

Refocus and Strengthen the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (The Ministry)

First, the Ministry should be reorganized to play the central role of coordinating and tracking job creation and decent work programmes across all MDAs, SOEs and MMDAs. This refocused mandated is already reflected in the new name President Mahama has assigned the Ministry, that is, Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment.

For too long the Ministry has mainly focused on resolving labour disputes especially over salaries and conditions of service of public sector worker unions who form less than 5% of the 19.2 million labour force at the end of September 2023. It did not pay sufficient attention to the issues pertaining to unemployment and vulnerable work.

Second, the Ministry will accelerate and complete the implementation of the Ghana Labour Market Information System (GLMIS) https://glmis.gov.gh/ and vigorously promote it to the public.

GLMIS is part of the World Bank funded Ghana Jobs and Skills Project which started in 2020 and ends in June 2026. It is a portal for matching job seekers to employers. It is also supposed to be a one stop shop for employment information in Ghana.

Third, strengthen the organisational capacity and improve resource allocation to the Labour Department, Department of Cooperatives (DOC), Factories Inspectorate, and Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) to perform their functions effectively.

The Department of Cooperatives is especially critical to formalizing the informal sector. I will explain this in a subsequent article.

MDPI’s core function of developing and tracking sector productivity indicators remains undone and almost forgotten.

Fourth, the Ministry should collaborate work with the new Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment (MYDE) to harmonize their programmes, avoid duplication of work, and turf wars.

It is good to see the close public collaboration on the recently launched Work Abroad Programme

between the Ministry and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), which is under MYDE. Both sides should physically and digitally integrate the Labour Department and YEA job centres.

Revise and Expand the Scope of Existing Labour Legislation

The government should revise the existing labour and decent work laws as standalone laws or merge them into a single Employment Act.

First, the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) should be revised to among others cover gig and remote work, informal sector workers, labour migration, and strengthen the functions of the Labour Department.

The revised law should legalize and define the functions of the National Employment Coordinating Committee as the central body chaired by the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment to coordinate, monitor and evaluate job creation and decent work interventions across all sectors.

Second, ILO Convention 158 should be ratified and incorporated into law to protect workers against unfair termination of employment.

Third, the Factories, Offices, and Shops Act, 1970 (Act 328) should be revised.

Fourth, the Workmen's Compensation Law, 1987 (PNDCL 187) should be updated.

Enact competition legislation to support 24 Hour Economy

Ghana needs a Competition Act. This is part of the 24HE strategy. It was not expressly stated in the NDC Manifesto 2024 but will likely feature in President Mahama’s Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies been prepared by the NDPC.

The World Bank sponsored Ghana Business Ready Report launched last month in Accra supports the case for a Competition Act.

Ghana scored very low on the quality of regulations that enable firms to participate in fair market conditions and stimulate innovation. For instance, there are no anti-trust laws to check monopolistic tendencies of large private companies and cartels. The existing legislation and rules on protection of intellectual property rights, patent registration and technology transfer is weak.

There is no well-defined inclusion criteria for public procurement that grants fair access and creates business opportunities for micro and small enterprises (MSMEs); and enterprises led or principally owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities (PWD).

Mainstream jobs and decent work in all public policy

First, all government policy proposals and cabinet memoranda should be subjected to mandatory potential job impact assessment to determine the extent to which they will create or destroy jobs, and improve or worsen decent work. Any job losses and deterioration in decent work should be accompanied by a mitigation plan for workers in the affected sectors.

Second, all MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs should include job creation and decent work in their medium term strategy and annual plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, and report on it annually.

Third, the NDPC, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8) should define and disseminate minimum standards of decent work including living income and living wage; occupational health and safety; social security and pensions; and health insurance.

Fourth, the Ministry of Finance should adequately resource the Ghana Statistical Service to carry out the Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) each quarter and publish the accompanying Labour Statistics Quarterly Bulletin.

AHIES should be the primary tool for monitoring results on employment. It cuts out the propaganda with jobs figures we have witnessed under previous governments.

Lastly, the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment should convene periodic physical and digital stakeholder meetings on jobs to assess progress, gather input and feedback, share best practices, and promote collaboration and partnerships.