Minority boycotts Holiday Bill

The Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament yesterday boycotted the passage of the Public Holiday (Amendment) Bill, saying it will never be part of an attempt by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to alter the history of the country by introducing new public holidays and changing existing ones.

The NDC MPs, led by the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu were vociferous in their opposition to the Public Holiday (Amendment) Bill.

They stated categorically that if the NDC wins power in 2020 it will immediately reverse the decision to make January 7 and August 4, Constitution Day and the Founders’ Day respectively.

It said it would also reverse the decision to make African Union (AU) Day on May 25, Republic Day on July 1 and Founder’s Day on September 21 as commemorative days.

The minority leader said the minority will not be part of such an embarrassment to rewrite the history of country, particularly with the NPP government refusing to recognize former President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the Founder of the nation.

He indicated that all of Africa recognizes Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the founder of the modern Ghana who played pioneering role in helping other African countries to gain independence.

The Minority leader also explained that making Republic Day, a commemorative day is completely misplaced because republican status is key to the political history of the country and will therefore not be part of the passage of that bill.

The majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the minority’s boycott showed its intolerance for positive changes.

According to him, at the committee level both the majority and the minority agreed to come up with a report for those changes to be made only for them to eventually turn round to oppose the consideration and passage of the bill.

He said without the Minority, the majority will continue to discharge their duties as MPs and consider the Public Holiday (Amendment) Bill.