Implementing Mahama’s 24 Hour Economy Policy
Part 2: High Level Program Design And Outcomes
Part 2 of this series of articles presents a High-Level Program Design for 24HE and six accompanying outcomes.
Market Systems Approach
24HE should apply a market systems approach to stimulate increased demand for Ghanaian goods and services in domestic and exports markets; strengthen the growth, productivity and competitiveness of Ghanaian enterprises; provide skills for employment and entrepreneurship; improve the business enabling environment for local and foreign direct investment; and increase the availability and quality of public services to Ghanaian residents and citizens.
High Level Program Design
The enabling environment for the efficient and effective functioning of labour markets is provided by Outcome 2. Labour demand will be stimulated by Outcomes 1, 3 and 4; whilst labour supply is addressed by Outcome 6. Decent work for the informal sector is tackled by Outcome 5.
Outcomes
24HE should deliver six interrelated outcomes that will lead to the creation of 1.7 million new decent jobs, and the transformation of a targeted number of existing vulnerable jobs into decent ones.
The first outcome of 24HE should be increased business growth, competitiveness and productivity at enterprise and industry level.
The indicators to measure this will include sales growth, market share, and factor productivity. Examples of the latter are labour productivity, return on investment, farm yield per hectare, and processing yield per metric ton of raw materials.
The second outcome from 24HE should be an improved institutional, legal and regulatory environment for the functioning of 24HE.
The indicators to measure this will include enhanced capacity of the Ministry of Labour, Jobs, and Employment to coordinate, monitor and evaluate all job and decent work initiatives across the public sector, private sector and development partners.
It is extremely important that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) continues to receive funding to generate Quarterly Labour Statistics to inform policy and also track its outcomes. In future GSS should transition to a monthly Jobs Data as is the case in some countries.
The legal and regulatory environment will be improved by reviewing, updating and enforcing laws including the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651); Factories, Offices, and Shops Act, 1970 (Act 328) and Workmen’s Compensation Law, 1987 (P.N.D.C.L. 187). Some new laws will also be passed including the Employment Act, Competition Act, and Consumer Protection Act.
The third outcome of 24HE should be local economies across all regions and districts in Ghana developed.
There is no published official statistics of the contributions of the various regions and districts to gross domestic product (GDP). However, the GSS Labour Statistics for 2023 Quarter 3 indicates that 44% of the almost 12 million persons employed nationally are concentrated in three out of the sixteen regions of Ghana, that is, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern regions. Data from the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority (GIPA) also indicates that foreign investment is skewed to the Greater Accra region.
24HE should redress this geographic imbalance in national economic development by tasking Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to conceptualize, design and implement 24HE initiatives that develops their local economy and creates jobs for residents.
The fourth outcome of 24HE should be service times and delivery channels for high in demand public services extended.
The service delivery period for some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that render fee-paying pubic services can be extended beyond Monday to Friday; and beyond 9am to 5pm as this case now.
The business case for an MDA to offer say 12, 16 or 24 hour services to the public on a self-financing basis should be established. The design for such extended services will include sstreamlining business processes, extending back-office operations to operate round the clock, introducing or enhancing digital platforms and mobile service units.
Public services that could be extended include driver and vehicle licensing; business and entity registration, filing, amendments and search services; tax filing and payments, and tax clearance certificates; passport acquisition and renewal; lands registration and search, and vigorous enforcement of land laws; courts and administration of justice; cargo import clearance and export forwarding at seaports.
The fifth outcome of 24HE should be informal sector economic actors transitioned to the formal sector.
Per the 2021 Population and Housing Census, the private informal sector contributed 77% of employment and the bulk of vulnerable work.
The starting point is to define clearly what constitutes the informal sector. Some definitions limit an informal sector operator to a business that is not registered with the Registrar General of Ghana as a sole proprietorship, partnership or company; or registered as a Cooperative with the Department of Cooperatives. Yet the Ghana Revenue Authority collects income taxes from these operators using the tax stamp. MMDAs also collect levies from them.
Nevertheless, 24HE should collaborate with private sector associations, civil society organizations and organized labour to form or strengthen member associations of informal sector actors that include wage workers, own-account workers, self-employed persons and employers in the informal economy.
The associations should be an avenue to bring marginalized workers and informal sector operators into the formal economy. They should serve as a conduit to provide TVET skills; access to markets, finance, micro pensions and other business services; and access to government regulatory services.
24HE ensure the representation of the informal sector in the National Tripartite Committee to make inputs on labour and employment policy.
The sixth outcome of 24HE should be employable skills developed.
President Mahama’s agenda for technical and vocational education training (TVET) is outlined in Chapter 5.1.4 of the NDC 2024 Manifesto. It seeks to expand investment in TVET to develop a critical mass of skilled workforce for the job market. This is complemented by other programs outlined in the manifesto including the National Apprenticeship Scheme, 1 Million Coders initiative, Digital Literacy especially for informal sector workers, and multilingual competence at various levels of education.
Part 3 of this article series discusses the cross-cutting themes in the High-Level Program Design for 24HE.
The writer is a Development Economist and Chartered Accountant, Member of the National Democratic Congress, and Executive Member of Eagles Forum, a social democratic organization.
He was a Member of the NDC’s 2024 Manifesto Committee on Jobs and Employment Creation and Lead for the 24-Hour Economy Task Team. He also served on the 2024 Transition Team Social Sector Committee.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-issaka-gbana-98478536/
https://web.facebook.com/n.issaka.gbana
@GbanaIssaka
