August 4, 2023, has been formally designated as a Statutory Public Holiday in Ghana by the Ministry of Interior in recognition of Founders’ Day. This day will be honored as a national day of significance and commemoration.
Founders’ Day is significant historically in Ghana because it honors the accomplishments of numerous Ghanaians who were instrumental in freeing the nation from colonial domination.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo suggested changes to the Public Holiday Act in 2018, and as part of that move, he decided to declare this day a public holiday.
Ambrose Dery, the minister of the interior, proposed the Public Holidays Amendment Bill, 2018, which resulted in the deletion of three current public holidays and the introduction of two new holidays. As a result, August 4 was recognized as Founders’ Day, and September 21 as a memorial day for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, in honor of his substantial contribution to the struggle for Ghana’s independence on March 6.
The Republic Holiday, which was formerly honored on July 1, the African Union (AU) Holiday, which was held on May 25, and the original Founders’ Day, which fell on Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, September 21, were the three holidays impacted by this modification.
The rationale behind the bill’s selection of August 4 as the new Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day is that day is historically significant as the day the movement for Ghana’s independence got started in 1947. On this day, Ghanaian nationalists including Ebenezer Ako Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, J.B. Danquah, R.A. Awoonor-Williams, and George Alfred Grant founded the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). The Fante Confederacy of 1868 and the Aboriginal Rights Protection Society of 1897 served as the foundation for the UGCC, which was established with the goal of attaining Ghana’s independence.
Even though Founders’ Day is a recognized national holiday, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP), two opposing political parties, have said they could consider doing away with it if they gain power.
