Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment Dr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo has outlined a three-pronged strategy to reposition Ghana’s cooperative sector as a structured economic pillar, warning that structural weaknesses are holding back what should be one of the country’s most powerful instruments for inclusive growth.
Speaking at a National Stakeholder Forum on Cooperative Development in Accra, held under the theme “Cooperatives as a Pathway to Sustainable and Inclusive Socio-Economic Development in Ghana,” Dr. Pelpuo said the question facing Ghana is no longer whether cooperatives matter, but whether the country is deliberately positioning them as a strategic instrument of national development.
He noted that cooperatives globally engage over one billion people and are embedded within national development systems in several advanced economies not as marginal actors but as structural pillars of economic organisation. In Ghana, he said, cooperatives operate across agriculture, financial services, housing, trade, and labour organisation and have provided critical entry points for women, youth, and informal sector workers.
“However, we must be candid in our assessment. The sector remains constrained by structural challenges, including fragmentation, weak governance systems, limited access to affordable finance, and regulatory frameworks that have not fully evolved to match current economic realities,” he said. He warned that these constraints have limited the sector’s ability to scale in line with national development ambitions.
The forum was organised by the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme Secretariat (24H+), which has formed a joint committee to draft a Cooperative Legislation Bill for Parliament, intended to replace a legal framework described as over 58 years old and out of step with current economic realities.
Dr. Pelpuo said the policy direction under the 24-Hour Economy framework offers an opportunity to reposition cooperatives as structured economic actors within the broader Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) ecosystem. He said his Ministry would focus on three strategic areas: regulatory alignment with decent work standards, including fair remuneration, occupational safety and health, and social protection coverage; structured employment creation for young people through cooperatives as viable platforms for dignified and scalable work; and stronger inter-institutional coordination across government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure coherent cooperative policy implementation.
“Cooperatives are not only economic entities; they are also labour systems. They influence employment conditions, income distribution, workplace governance, and social protection outcomes,” he said.
The Secretariat said the combined legal, institutional, and operational reforms are expected to shift farmers from primary producers into owners of agro-industrial enterprises, strengthening Ghana’s broader economic transformation agenda.
