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On Sunday, September 21, Ghanaians observed Founder’s Day, honoring the birth of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first president, former prime minister, and leading advocate for African unity and Black racial liberation.
According to the ministry’s statement, which was signed by Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, President John Mahama had issued an Executive Instrument ordering the holiday to be observed countrywide in accordance with the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act, as amended.
There has been considerable controversy surrounding the day’s commemoration in the past.
In Parliament, the administration of the late President John Evans Atta Mills introduced legislation designating September 21 as a holiday honoring Dr. Nkrumah.
President John Atta Mills proclaimed September 21st, the centennial of Kwame Nkrumah’s birth in 1909, to be Founder’s Day, a legally recognized holiday in Ghana, in September 2009.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s remarks at Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary parade in 2017 marked the beginning of the long-running Founder’s Day versus Founders Day controversy.
While some believe that Dr. Nkrumah was the only person who founded Ghana, others believe that a number of people, most notably the other members of the Big Six—six leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the dominant political party in the former British colony of the Gold Coast—helped to establish the modern state of Ghana.
In 2017, President Akufo-Addo proposed legislation to declare August 4th as Founders Day and September 21st, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, to be Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day instead of Founder’s Day.
The date of this year’s Founder’s Day is Sunday, September 21. According to the law, the President may designate the following Monday as the observed holiday if a statutory holiday falls on a weekend.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
