Some N/R residents kick against Founders’ Day as holiday

Some residents of the Northern Region have lauded the institution of Founders’ Day to honour the country’s heroes who contributed to her attaining independence, but say it should not be observed as a holiday.

They argued that the country lagged behind in all sectors and needed to work hard at all times to catch up with the rest of the world and therefore observing Founders’ Day as a holiday would mean the country had fewer days to work.

They made the argument in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Monday on what they thought about the Founders’ Day.

The Founders’ Day has been instituted by the government as a public holiday to be observed on August 04, every year, to recognise the collective contribution of all actors culminating in the country’s attainment of independence on March 06, 1957.

Mr Yakubu Abdul-Aziz, Tolon District Nutrition Officer, said recognizing Founders’ Day was necessary since most of the leaders had contributed to the freedom and liberty citizens were currently enjoying, but making it a public holiday would contribute to making most of the government institutions unproductive.

He said "There are so many holidays on the calendar of the country that should actually be taken off if we really need to improve as a developing country".

Mrs Salatu Abubakar, Staff at the Department of Agriculture, Tamale Metropolis, said the Founders’ Day was a daughter that needed recognition, but making it a holiday was not necessary since the country was still developing and needed a lot of time to work to promote economic growth and development.

She said "The kind of productive activities that would have been given to mother Ghana today have actual gone unproductive".

Mrs Hamdia Ibrahim, a Staff at African Development Organisation on Migration, an NGO, said it was good to commemorate the day but should be observed on the date that it fell on and not extended to another day simply because it fell on a weekend.

She said “why are we extending the holiday to another day simply because it fell on a weekend?” “We are not making progress as a country,” she added.