August 5 is Public holiday – Prez. Akufo-Addo declares

• Posted on August 1, 2019August 1, 2019
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

President Akufo-Addo has declared Monday, August 5, 2019, as a public holiday to be observed all over the country.

The holiday which marks the Founders Day falls on Sunday, August 4, 2019.

However, the President by Executive Instrument (E.I) has moved the holiday to Monday, August 5, 2019.

According to a release signed by the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery, the general public is being reminded to take note of the upcoming holiday.

Founders Day

A new Public Holidays Amendment Bill, 2018, was laid in Parliament by the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, and passed to amend the Public Holiday Act, 2001 in 2018.

The new amendment bill quashed three public holidays and introduced two new holidays.

This 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 6th March independence.

The affected holidays are the Republic Holiday which falls on July 1, African Union (AU) Holiday which falls on May 25 and Founder’s Day which fell on Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, September 21.

The bill explained that August 4 is 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.

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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