The Minority in Parliament has strongly opposed government’s move to establish a 24-Hour Economy Secretariat, describing the proposed body as an unnecessary bureaucracy that will not deliver the promised policy outcomes.

The bill, presented by the Attorney-General, seeks to operationalise the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) flagship 24-hour economy programme, a major campaign promise during the 2024 general elections.

However, during debate on the floor of Parliament ahead of the bill’s passage, the Minority Spokesperson on the Economy, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, argued that the proposed Secretariat would only create an additional layer of administration without translating into real economic transformation.

“This bill establishes a bureaucracy, not a 24-hour economy, through an unnecessary authority that will not achieve its stated purpose,” he said.

Oppong Nkrumah insisted that a dedicated authority is not required to implement a functioning 24-hour economy, citing global examples of major cities that operate round-the-clock without such structures.

“Six of the biggest cities that operate 24-hour economies—New York, Tokyo, London, Bangkok, Dubai, Berlin—none of them started off with a 24-hour economy authority,” he noted.

He warned that the bill would instead create an expensive administrative body with executives, auditors, staff, and a board that would require significant public funding.

“What this law actually does is that it sets up a bureaucracy… an authority with a chief executive, an internal auditor, hundreds of staff, a board. They’re going to ask for a budget and spend,” he argued.

Oppong Nkrumah further cautioned that the bill could mislead young Ghanaians into believing it would directly generate jobs and economic activity, when in his view, it merely creates another government institution.

However, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga pushed back against the Minority’s claims, explaining that the Secretariat is intended to serve as a coordinating body to ensure effective implementation of the programme.

"The 24-hour economy, and the authority that is being established to implement it, is not the vehicle that will create a 24-hour economy.

"It is a coordinating secretariat, a coordinating secretariat, that will coordinate the activities of all the other sectors who, when they function and function properly, will deliver a very productive sector and will deliver employment. That is the whole idea," he explained.