Former Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has criticised the Mahama administration of repackaging its 24-Hour Economy programme under a new name, arguing that the initiative has failed to deliver on its original objectives.
According to him, the inclusion of projects previously announced under the 24-Hour Economy in the newly introduced New Economy agenda suggests that the government has abandoned its earlier flagship programme.
Dr Amin Adam made the remarks on Friday, November 13, a day after Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson presented the 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament.
Addressing journalists, the former minister questioned why the government would transfer projects from the 24-Hour Economy into the New Economy framework if the original programme was still being implemented.
“Projects and programmes on the 24-hour economy have been lifted into the New Economy. And this is why we were very confident that the 24-hour economy has failed. They have repackaged the 24-hour economy as the new economy. If it hasn’t failed, what is the reason for the government repackaging it and renaming it as the New Economy?” he asked.
He challenged the administration to come clean with Ghanaians about the fate of the 24-Hour Economy programme, insisting that the government should acknowledge its failure rather than present it under a different identity.
“So the government must admit and tell the Ghanaian people the truth. Yes, I failed with my 24-hour economy. Now I want to rename it,” he said.
Questions US$10bn Funding Plan
Dr Amin Adam also cast doubt on the government’s capacity to finance the New Economy programme, which is projected to require US$10 billion over four years.
He questioned how the administration intended to mobilise the proposed funding, particularly when it had allegedly struggled to implement the 24-Hour Economy programme, which was estimated to cost US$4 billion.
“If this government could not deliver the 24-hour economy, which was costing $4 billion, how do they expect Ghanaians to believe them that they can fund a renamed 24-hour economy with $10 billion, $5 billion in two years? How are they going to do that?” he queried.
The former Finance Minister further challenged the government’s presentation of some projects under the New Economy as fresh interventions, pointing to the proposed oil palm development programme.
He said the initiative had already featured in the 2026 Budget, presented in November 2025, with plans to cultivate 100,000 hectares of oil palm and generate 250,000 jobs.
Dr Amin Adam argued that the same targets had been repackaged as part of the New Economy agenda despite, in his view, little progress towards implementation.
“The same project, the same 100 hectares, the same 250,000 jobs, which was put in the 2026 budget, presented in November 2025, now appears as a new project under the New Economy,” he said.
He also questioned the decision to present the oil palm initiative as a new intervention when the land required for its implementation had, according to him, not yet been acquired.
He called on the government to account for the progress of the projects previously announced under the 24-Hour Economy and provide clarity on the funding arrangements for the proposed US$10 billion programme.
The New Economy programme is expected to commence in 2027, as Ghana marks 70 years of independence. It is designed to reduce the country’s dependence on raw commodity exports, strengthen domestic production and address recurring boom-and-bust economic cycles.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has described the initiative as an integrated production system that will direct investment into critical sectors of the economy while consolidating macroeconomic stability.
