Akufo-Addo declares Monday, August 5, public holiday

President Akufo-Addo, has declared Monday, August 5, a public holiday.

A statement signed by Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, on Wednesday said in view of the day falling on a Sunday, the President has by Executive Instrument (EI), declared Monday, August 5, as a public holiday “to be observed as such throughout the country.”

The Founders’ Day was instituted by the President by Executive Instrument to commemorate the contributions to the liberation of Ghana from imperialism and colonialism.

It replaced September 21, the birthday of Ghana’s founding president, Kwame Nkrumah, which used to be observed as the commemorative day for Ghana’s liberation and independence fighters.

However, September 21 will be observed as ‘Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day’.

August 4

On that day, in 1897, the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed in Cape Coast.

The Society did a great job to mobilise the chiefs and people to ward off the greedy hands of British imperialism to ensure that control of Ghanaian lands remained in Ghanaian hands.

It represented the first monumental step towards the making of modern Ghana, enabling us to avoid the quagmire of land inheritance that our brothers and sisters in Southern and Eastern Africa continue to suffer, from the seizures of their lands by white minorities

It is, therefore, fitting that we honour them, as those who contributed to the founding of our nation, a statement issued by the Presidency on September 18, 2018, indicated.

The statement signed by Communications Director, Eugene Arhin noted: “The most appropriate way to honour them is to commemorate the day on which the two most significant events in our colonial political history, that led us to independence, occurred – 4th August.”