The 2024 flagbearer for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has pledged to reinstate July 1 as a national holiday in Ghana if he wins the upcoming elections.
July 1, marking Ghana’s transition to a Republic in 1960, was an annual celebration until the Akufo-Addo administration altered its status, making it commemorative and replacing it with the August 4 Founders’ Day.
During the second day of his tour in the Upper East Region, Mahama criticized President Akufo-Addo’s decision to shift the holiday from July 1 to August 4.
He accused the current administration of attempting to “rewrite history” by replacing Republic Day with Founders’ Day, a change he vehemently opposes.
“Apart from destroying the economy, one of the things this government wants to do is to rewrite our history, and we shall not allow them to rewrite our history because the president said he does not accept that one person can be the founder of our nation,” Mahama stated.
“Nobody can come and rewrite our history. Indeed, for those of you who don’t know it, when the Queen finally agreed to give Ghana independence, the UGCC that Nana Akufo-Addo is fighting to be recognized as founders of Ghana wrote a petition. They sent people to England to tell the Queen not to grant independence because we are not ready yet.”
This comes in the wake of President Akufo-Addo’s August 3 address, where he reignited the debate by asserting that Ghana was not founded by a single individual.
Mahama assured that an NDC government would restore July 1 as a holiday to honor Ghana’s republic.
“July 1 is our Republic Day and we also made it our senior citizens day. They have come to take the holiday from July 1 to August 4 which is the day the UGCC was founded.”
“When we come to office, we will rectify those things. July 1 will be a holiday again,” he declared.