Constitution Day needless – Ras Mubarak

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kumbungu Constituency in the Northern Region, Ras Mubarak, is displeased with the public holiday declared on 7 January 2019 to mark Constitution Day in Ghana.

The legislator is of the view that the latest holiday will affect productivity in various sectors, adding that the timing was bad as it comes just after Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The maiden Constitution Day was introduced by the government to mark the country’s Fourth-Republican constitutional democracy.

But Mr Mubarak is of the view that: “This is not the time for us to be resting. This is the time for us to work hard and increase productivity. A lot of businesses have been complaining, coming on the back of a very unproductive year”.

He said in an interview with BBC’s Focus on Africa that: “The timing is horrible. The Christmas holiday [was] a long break, parents are looking forward to sending their kids back to school. We are starting a new year and [for the government] to have brought on this particular holiday couldn’t have come at a worse time”.

The government tabled an amendment to the Public Holiday (Amendment) Bill 2018 in parliament on Thursday, 13 December 2018.

The Amendment Bill outlined the number of holidays in the year, including “New Year's Day (1st January), Constitution Day (January 7), Independence Day (6TH March), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Eid-al-Fitr (Ramadan), Workers Day (1st May), Farmers Day (1st Friday in December) Christmas Day (25th December), Boxing Day (26th December), African Union Day (25th May), Republic Day (1st July).”

August 4 of every year will henceforth be known as Founders Day.

Also, the birthday of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, which hitherto was marked as the country’s Founders Day, will now be known as Nkrumah Memorial Day while January 7 will be known as Constitution Day.