The 24-hour Enigma

 

The Free Senior High School (SHS) policy is to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) what the 24-hour economy slogan is to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

This cornerstone of the NPP campaign in 2015 and beyond was bastardized and subjected to motley negative advertisements, but it endured the onslaught and blossomed. It benefitted over three million school children across the country.

With the originators of the concept now in opposition, the new government dare not vary the policy lest they incur the wrath of the people they promised to have it continue should they win the polls.

They would have loved to be the originators, but with the copyright as it is in former President Akufo-Addo’s name, the intellectual property ownership cannot be reversed.

The policy for now will endure. As for the quality of implementation, only time will tell. While the Free SHS was conceived as a response to the inability of persons from poor homes to access education beyond the primary level, the 24-hour economy on the other hand remains an enigmatic concept and will remain so until we see one job hosting three sets of workers or staffers.

As a concept, it continues to attract            various interpretations.

No wonder when the Finance Minister presented the NDC’s maiden budget, the party’s flagship policy neither found space nor received an allocation.

Was it deliberately ignored for fear of triggering further questions about what it really means?

The three persons one job concept, which sold like hot cake to the youth, is still shrouded in nothingness, the originators themselves unable to explain it convincingly.

The only post-election mention of it was arguably when the President appointed Goosie Tanoh to be in charge of it at the highest level of governance.

Some sceptics have labeled it a scam for want of a better description. They may have a point considering the fact that there is a public sector employment freeze by the new government. So where is the one job three persons 24-hour economy explanation?

Maybe we still do not understand the concept, after discarding the rearing of lions and other wildcats explanation proffered earlier by a man the NDC disclaimed anyway.

The new meaning is the freezing of public sector employment for the first year of government.

Government is committed to “fully implement the net freeze on employment by immediately putting on hold all recruitments/replacement into the public sector”.

This is the grim segment of the budget statement which is telling and contradictory to the 24-hour economy job creation template.

 

The post The 24-hour Enigma appeared first on DailyGuide Network.

Read Full Story