Former Vice President Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has taken a sting at the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) over its much-talk -about 24-hour economy proposal, calling it an unrealistic policy that has been undermined by the country’s deepening imminent power crisis.
The 2024 flagbearer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) mocked the policy during a meeting with members of the Young Executive Forum (YEF) in London, where he is currently on a post-election “Thank You” tour of the UK. His remarks targeted the practicality of sustaining an all-day economy without reliable electricity.
“They told us they will bring in a 24-hour economy. This is their flagship promise, their flagship policy, 24-hour economy,” he said. “Of course, we all knew it was a joke…Today, it’s completely missing from their policy. They are not even talking about it. It didn’t appear in their budget.”
Taking a direct jab at the NDC’s current handling of the electricity situation, he added, “How can you have a 24-hour economy with dumsor at the same time? I mean, you can’t.”
Dr. Bawumia insisted that the NDC has dragged the country back into the grip of power instability, arguing that the ongoing outages validate the NPP’s prior warnings.
“Dumsor has taken over, and we warned Ghanaians that dumsor and NDC work together, and that was going to happen.
“Ghanaians didn’t listen, but we basically have been proven right,” he stated. “Dumsor is pretty bad, and it’s likely to get worse from what we can see.”
The 24-hour economy policy, championed by NDC flag bearer John Dramani Mahama, proposes a national framework that supports continuous productivity across sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and retail.
The plan envisions incentivising businesses to operate in shifts to boost employment, maximize resource use, and stimulate economic growth.