In 2018, the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo laid a Public Holidays Amendment Bill before parliament, which became the Public Holiday Act, 2001.
The amended act, laid by the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, quashed three public holidays and introduced two new holidays.
Among the affected holidays were the Republic Holiday, which used to be observed on July 1; African Union (AU) Day Holiday, which fell on May 25; and the Founder’s Day which was marked on September 21 – Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday.
It’s been your years since the new amendments came into practice and GhanaWeb brings back to its readers 4 things you must know about this Founders Day holiday.
Here they are:
1. August 4 was 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.
2. It is in memory of the successive generations of Ghanaians who contributed to the liberation of the country from colonial rule.
3. August 4 was chosen as the date for Founders’ Day by the Akufo-Addo-led administration as it marks two important events in Ghana’s history. It is the date for the formation of the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society by John Mensah Sarbah in 1897, and the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947 by J.B. Danquah and George Alfred “Paa” Grant.
4. It is a mark of reverence for the current generation to work “to free ourselves from the economic arrangement designed by the former colonial power to serve its particular purpose at the time which continues to bind Ghanaians.
