January 7, 2020 is a public holiday

The Ministry of Interior has declared January 7, 2020 as a public holiday.

The day, according to the Ministry “has been declared a Public Holiday to mark “Constitution Day.”

A press statement signed by the Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery called on Ghanaians to observe the day as a statutory public holiday throughout the country.

“The general is hereby informed that Tuesday, 7th January 2020 which marks Constitution Day, is a statutory public holiday and should be observed as such throughout the country,” the statement added.

Background

In December 2018, a bill was laid before Parliament to amend the Public Holiday Act 2001 to provide for three different holidays.

These new holidays were 7th of January which was observed as the Constitution Day earlier in 2019, 4th of August which was described as the Founders’ Day and 21st of September was marked as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.

In 2017, President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, proposed that August 4 should be observed as Founders Day in memory of the successive generations of Ghanaians who contributed to the liberation of the country from colonial rule and September 21 set aside as a memorial day for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President who was instrumental in the fight for the 6th March independence.

This bill was subsequently passed by Parliament and assented to by the President.

Read the entire statement below: