John Mahama and the 24-hours shift system of work in Ghana

John Dramani Mahama and the 24-hours shift system of work in Ghana, a promising proposition by the principle leader of the NDC in 2020.

When President Mahama delivered his Ghana at the crossroads lecture, he reiterated a manifesto promise he made in the 2020 elections.

I know a lot of people didn’t pay attention to this in 2020 NDC manifesto because, every campaign has it’s own targeted policy highlights, and in 2020, Okada legalization took the frontlines of the policy drive, and yes of course, the NDC is a party of social democracy, center-left ideology, so pro-poor policies, centered around everyday people must be at the center of its campaign green-light policies.

Strikingly however, the NDC Principal in 2020, under subheading: Employment Act, at point 9.3, John Mahama had this words to say.

“To accommodate this anticipated demand for Ghanaian goods and services, the next NDC Government will create a 3-shift economy, especially in manufacturing and other high-end services, that operates 24 hours non-stop. The additional two shifts will be a source of additional employment. Companies that currently operate 24 hours with only two shifts of 12 hours each in violation of the labour law (which specifies a maximum of 8 hours) will be required to run three shifts and thus create a third stream of jobs.”

John Mahama’s proposition is well thought true advanced proposal to dealing with employment challenges in the economy, particularly among the youthful population, largely but not completely.

But one thing must be clear, not all institutions of public and private entities will fall under this policy proposition.

The industries that are heavily in production of goods and services can be categorized in this area, so for example, a company like the Komanda sugar factory, if working to full capacity will need to work through the 24 hours period nonstop, same can be applied to Ekumfi juice production capacity demands. What government will do is to provide tax incentives to these organizations to allow them employ more people to work at reasonable cost to the company.

In politics, when a political party propose laudable policies to win an election, and failed at that polls, it doesn’t erase those policies for new ones all together, it set up the structure to repeat these policies over and again to the voting population to achieve a sinking effect, in subsequent elections, the party can only add new ideas to push more of the old ones to gain traction.

If 6 million people voted for the people’s manifesto at the first instance, then imagine if you double your effort in 4 years ahead of another elections. That’s exactly why I think, the Okada legalization, big push, and the several proposition should be at the center of the party’s communications in proposing alternative plan to the failed NPP government of Dr Bawumia and Nana Addo.

Policy survival in any polical circle must not be an exercise of elections seasons, that’s why the 24 hours shift reechoing at Ghana at the crossroads was not only essential but important position by principal JM.

And for those who worked on the 2020 manifesto of the NDC, you have done one of the most impressive jobs in manifesto politics of the NDC since 1992. Your ideas are bold, they’re courageous and a chest war for any credible elections in human history, globally.

Now get your membership card on 21st May and be part of the NDC’s big ideas.

By Benjamin Madugu Avornyotse