Friday, January 9 declared public holiday to mark Constitution Day
The government has declared Friday, January 9, 2026, a public holiday to mark this year’s Constitution Day, following an Executive Instrument issued by President John Dramani Mahama.
In a statement released in Accra on Friday, January 2, 2026, the Ministry of the Interior said Constitution Day, which is a statutory public holiday, falls on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. However, in line with existing law, the holiday has been shifted to Friday to allow for nationwide observance.
“The general public is hereby informed that Wednesday, 7th January 2026, marks Constitution Day, which is a Statutory Public Holiday. However, in view of the fact that 7th January 2026 falls on a Wednesday, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, has, by Executive Instrument (E.I), in accordance with Section 2 of the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act (Act 601), as amended, declared Friday, 9th January 2026, as a Public Holiday and should be observed as such throughout the country,” the statement said.
The declaration comes against the backdrop of recent amendments to the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act, following the passage of the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days (Amendment) Bill, 2025, by Parliament under a certificate of urgency.
The amended law introduces Shaqq Day as an additional statutory public holiday for the Muslim community, to be observed a day after Eid-ul-Fitr. It also reinstates September 21 as Founders’ Day, while August 4 has been removed from the list of statutory holidays.
The Minister of the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, who presented the bill to Parliament, said the government reviewed the number of public holidays and acted in line with commitments made to rationalise them.
He told Parliament that the restructuring was intended to remove holidays that had generated controversy and to retain those that enjoyed broad national consensus.
Mr Muntaka said the government would maintain January 1 as New Year’s Day, January 7 as Constitution Day, March 6 as Independence Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday for Christians, May 1 as Labour Day and July 1 as Republic Day.
He added that the government considered Republic Day a significant commemorative occasion in Ghana’s history and had therefore restored it as a full public holiday.
The passage of the bill, however, drew criticism from the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who questioned the government’s priorities in fast-tracking changes to the public holidays regime.
He said the Minority did not trivialise Ghana’s heritage or the value of inclusive celebrations, but argued that with the country facing serious socio-economic challenges and outstanding reform commitments, the decision to grant a certificate of urgency to the bill was misplaced.
“With Ghana facing serious socio-economic challenges and unfulfilled reform promises, the push to fast-track a holiday amendment was frankly perplexing,” he said.
Constitution Day commemorates the coming into force of the 1992 Constitution and the birth of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. The Constitution, which was approved by referendum on April 28, 1992, came into effect on January 7, 1993, and remains the supreme law of the land.
January 7 also holds special national significance as the day on which elected Presidents are sworn into office during election years, reinforcing its place in Ghana’s democratic journey.
