New bill before Parliament for Jan 7, Aug 4 as public holidays; Republic, AU Days scrapped

Government has laid a new bill before Parliament to amend the Public Holidays Act to include January 7, 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.

The bill also seeks to scrap the AU holiday which falls on May 25 as well as the Republic Day holiday on July 1.

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

If the Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, 2018, is passed into law, the AU, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Republic days will only be commemorative days.

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

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).

source: Graphic Online