Parliament has passed the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days (Amendment) Bill, 2025, abolishing August 4 as Founders’ Day and restoring September 21—the birthday of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah—as the official date to celebrate Ghana’s foundational leadership.
The legislative move overturns a 2019 amendment introduced by President Akufo-Addo’s administration, which sought to honor the collective contributions of the Big Six by moving the holiday to August 4. That date was chosen to reflect the formation of the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society in 1897 and the founding of the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947, events seen as laying the groundwork for independence.
However, the decision sparked heated national debate, with many viewing it as politically motivated and dismissive of Nkrumah’s unparalleled role in achieving Ghana’s independence. As leader of the Convention People’s Party, Nkrumah mobilized the masses and delivered Ghana’s freedom on March 6, 1957, later becoming its first President.
The Interior Minister, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, explained that the August 4 commemoration had become divisive, while September 21 enjoys broader national consensus as a unifying symbol of Ghana’s liberation. In addition to restoring Nkrumah’s birthday as Founders’ Day, the amendment also reinstates July 1 as Republic Day, recognizing the day Ghana formally became a republic in 1960.