Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has declared Monday, August 5, 2019, as a public holiday observed all over Ghana.
The initial holiday which is August 4 Founders Day falls on a Sunday, hence the President by an Executive Instrument has declared Monday, August 5, 2019, as a holiday.
In a press release signed and issued by the Minister of Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, said the general public is being reminded to take note of the upcoming holiday.
Founders Day
The new Public Holidays Act, 2018, was passed by Parliament last year to amend the Public Holidays Act, 2001.
The new Act quashed three public holidays and introduced two new ones.
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The passage by Parliament followed a proposal by President Akufo-Addo that August 4 should be observed as Founders’ Day in memory of the successive generations of Ghanaians who contributed to the liberation of the country from colonial rule and September 21 set aside as a memorial day for Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, who was instrumental in the fight for the March 6 independence.
It was explained that August 4 was being made a public holiday in place of Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day because the real fight for Ghana’s independence started on August 4, 1947, when some Ghanaian patriots like George Alfred Grant, J.B. Danquah, R.A. Awoonor-Williams, Edward Akufo-Addo, Ebenezer Ako Adjei and some chiefs formed the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) founded on the foundation of the Fante Confederacy of 1868 and Aboriginal Rights Protection Society of 1897 for the independence of Ghana.
The holidays which have been cancelled are the Republic Day holiday which used to be on July 1, African Union (AU) holiday which was on May 25 and Founder’s Day holiday which used to be on Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, September 21.
August 4 now replaces the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day holiday.
Two opposition political parties; the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) have hinted at scrapping the Founders Day holiday if they win political power.
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