New Holidays Coming

Government has laid a new bill before Parliament to amend the Public Holidays Act to include January 7 and August 4 as statutory public holidays.

The new bill which was laid by the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, on Thursday, December 13 is seeking to make January 7 Constitution Day and August 4, Founders Day.

it is however proposing to scrap the AU holiday on May 25 as well as the Republic holiday on July 1.

If approved, the already existing Founder’s Day holiday which is observed on September 21 will now be observed only as a Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day and would be a public holiday.

“Over the years, successive generations of Ghanaians have made vital contributions to the liberation of our country from imperialism and colonialism. it is against this background that this bill seeks to provide for additional public holidays to be celebrated in recognition of significant historical events and in honour of persons for founding our nation,” a memo from the interior ministry on the bill said.

Background

In 2017, President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, proposed 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.

Other public holidays

Ghana will now have 13 statutory holidays and two commemorative holidays if the amendments are passed.

Ghanaians will continue to enjoy other public holidays, New Year’s Day (January 1), Independence Day (March 6), Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Others are Eid-ul-Adha (Hajj period), Eid-ul-Fitr (Ramadan period), Workers’ Day (May), Farmers’ Day (Ffirst Day in December), Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (December 26).