Gov’t reinstates September 21 as Founders’ Day, declares July 1 as public holiday

Parliament has passed the new Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Amendment Bill 2025, removing the August 4 Founders’ Day holiday from the national calendar.

In its place, September 21, the birthday of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, has been reinstated as the official Founders’ Day.

Announcing the changes in Parliament on Wednesday, June 25, the government through the Interior Minister, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, stated: “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.

“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, marking Republic Day, celebrating Ghana’s transition to a republic in 1960.

Other recognised holidays retained include New Year’s Day (January 1), Constitution Day (January 7), Independence Day (March 6), the two Eids, Labour Day (May 1), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Farmers’ Day (first Friday in December), Christmas (December 25), and Boxing Day (December 26).

This decision reverses the 2019 amendment under President Akufo-Addo’s administration, which had designated August 4, the celebration of Ghana’s founding fathers, while demoting September 21 to Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.

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