Parliament has passed the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Amendment Bill, 2025, officially removing August 4 as Founders’ Day and reinstating September 21—Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday—as Ghana’s official Founders’ Day.
The move, announced on Wednesday, June 25 by Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, marks a major reversal of the 2019 amendment introduced under former President Akufo-Addo, which recognised August 4 to honour Ghana’s founding fathers collectively.
Explaining the decision, the Interior Minister told Parliament, “We’ve taken out the 4th August as then been termed as Founders’ Day because we believe that as a country, we are not unanimous around it and it serves as a divisive day for us as Ghanaians.”
He added, “So we’ve taken that out and we have maintained the 21st September and now we term that as the Founders’ Day, which is the birthday of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our country, the one who led us into independence.”
The amendment also introduces July 1 as a full public holiday to commemorate Republic Day, marking Ghana’s transition to a republic in 1960.
Other statutory holidays remain unchanged, including New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Labour Day, the two Islamic Eids, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Farmers’ Day, Christmas, and Boxing Day.
The latest change reignites longstanding debates over national identity and historical legacy, with the government opting for what it calls a more “unifying and historically grounded” approach to honouring Ghana’s independence journey.
