Let’s collectively celebrate works of our forebears – Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has indicated the need to recognise and celebrate the collective efforts of the country’s forebears who have led the fight for the attainment of independence from colonial rule.
Speaking at the Founders’ Day Celebration Luncheon at the Forecourt of the Accra International Conference Centre, (AICC), President Akufo-Addo reiterated that 4th August is the most appropriate day to signify our recognition and appreciation of the collective efforts of our forebears towards founding a free, independent Ghana.
The President noted “It is worth bearing in mind that the victorious general of the American war of independence from British colonial rule and the first President of the United States of America, George Washington, is not held out as the Founder of the American Republic. The people described as the founding fathers of the United States were the persons who signed the Declaration of Independence and who promulgated the Constitution of the United States of America”.
He added “Ghanaians should come on board and respect the collective work of our forebears in 1897 and 1947 that compels us to define August 4th as Founders’ Day as the most sacred day in our nation’s history”.
August 4 was decided upon as the date for Founders’ Day by the Akufo-Addo-led administration as it marks two important events in the country’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, Ghana’s first mass political party formed in the Gold Coast to spearhead social agitations for independence.