Yesterday, Ghana enjoyed a public holiday that marked Founders’ Day 2024, which actually fell on Sunday.
Instituted in the first term of office of President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018 to be marked annually on August 4, Founders’ Day replaced the Founder’s Day, which was celebrated to mark Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday annually on September 21, for his unique role in the struggle for the independence of the Gold Coast, which name was changed to Ghana upon the attainment of its independence.
Founders Day entered the country’s calendar of national holidays following the passing of the Public Holidays Amendment Bill 2018 to amend the Public Holidays Act, 2001.
The Day, as perceived and instituted by the Akufo-Addo administration, is to celebrate and honour people known in the country’s political history as ‘The Big Six’.
These are Kwame Nkrumah, Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, J.B Danquah, William Obetsebi-Lamptey and William Ofori-Atta, who are considered the founding fathers of present-day Ghana due to their pivotal roles in the country’s struggle for independence from the British colonists.
In spite of the noble idea behind the institution of the Founders’ Day, a section of the Ghanaian public, particularly people of political persuasions other than that of the members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), may continue to raise some controversies about it.
The Ghanaian Times rather thinks that Ghanaians should acknowledge its significance and use that to demand accountability from the ruling political class and other public officials at any time.
Therefore, we refer to our editorial piece on Founders’ Day 2022 to reiterate that the choice of August 4 to celebrate Founders Day must not be seen as just another occasion but one for reflecting on how to justify the independence fought for.
What is the present generation doing to develop the country so that future generations would praise us for not letting down so-called ‘The Big Six’?
In his speech to mark this year’s Founders’ Day, President Akufo-Addo made reference to the country’s founding fathers’ unwavering commitment and dedication to the cause of nationhood in the course of which they made sacrifices and showed resilience, leadership and tenacity of purpose.
Even though all Ghanaians must cultivate such values, it is incumbent on politicians and public officials to do more to sustain these.
History is there to prove that the founder fathers did not amass wealth, neither did they arrogate to themselves privileges beyond imagination.
It should be remembered that some countries like Malawi have long started questioning the “unreasonable” pecks of their leaders and their lack of concern for the plight of their peoples.
The revolts in Kenya and Nigeria about economic hardships should be a wake-up call to Ghanaian leaders everywhere that they cannot escape showing accountability to the people – the business-as-usual holiday is gone.
It is time to show accountability by eschewing corruption, negligence of duty and ineptitude.
It is also time for the country’s leaders to show that sensitivity to the hardship in the country and do things that demonstrate the people’s expectation that “we are in together.”
One way to do this is to cancel the superfluous pegs like those under Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution