Kwaku Darko Ankrah, a historian, has criticised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for selecting August 4 as Founders’ Day.
In 2019, Parliament passed a law establishing August 4 as Founders’ Day to honour the collective efforts of those who contributed to Ghana’s independence struggle, while designating September 21 as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.
This decision sparked protests from individuals and groups who believed in Nkrumah’s singular role in the country’s founding.
However, in his 2024 Founders’ Day address on Saturday, August 3, President Akufo-Addo firmly rejected the notion that Ghana was founded by a single individual, disagreeing with claims that Kwame Nkrumah single-handedly founded Ghana.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point of View on Channel One TV, Kwaku Darko Ankrah described the President’s decision as “totally wrong,” emphasising that August 4 marks the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).
He argued that several individuals laid the foundation by playing key roles in Ghana’s independence before the emergence of the Big Six, stating that the President truncated their contributions by choosing August 4 to mark Founders’ Day.
“The President was totally wrong when he selected August 4, you state August 4, it means that you are truncating the work others have done….the significance of August 4, is the formation of UGCC, it’s a political party. Never, how can you use a political party’s formation as the foundation of Gold Coast?
“Then we should go back to about March 8, 1897, as the formation of Gold Coast, because that is where the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was founded to save the lands of this country. For me, I don’t understand the August 4.”
He recommended selecting a date that would unify the citizenry, rather than create divisions and warned that the date might be changed by future governments.
“Unifying the country is very important, it’s not about the personal interest as a people belonging to the Danquah-Busia tradition or anybody, no, it’s about unifying the country. So, the date itself must be able to unify the people.
“So, if you use the date that your party or the grandparent of your party started as a celebration day, other political parties will have cause to blame you, and when they also get political power, they will try to [change it].”
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