Akufo-Addo Protecting His Family With Founders' Day Proposal

The Convention People’s Party says government's proposal to make August 4, the country's Founders' Day is a deliberate ploy to protect the ancestry of the President.

The party said it was not surprised by the announcement because President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has demonstrated his readiness to alter Ghana’s history to favour his family since he was sworn in on January 7.

CPP Communications Director, Abdul Kadri Rauf told Joy News Monday, arguments put out in support of the August 4 Founders’ Day proposal, are “lame and completely flawed.”

“To the President, this is not about the history of Ghana...it is about his ancestry,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo is expected to make a legislative proposal to Parliament in the coming days, making August 4, the nation’s Founders’ Day.

August 4, 1947, was the day the country’s first political party, United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), was formed at Saltpond in the Central Region.

A Flagstaff House communication over the weekend deplored the “unnecessary controversy” that continues to surround the history of events leading to Ghana’s Independence on March 6, 1957.

“It is clear that successive generations of Ghanaians made vital contributions to the liberation of our country from imperialism and colonialism,” the statement said.

As part of the legislative proposal, the September 21 currently marked as Founder’s Day would be Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day if Parliament endorses the plan.

Flagstaff House has explained the changes would be done to commemorate the “outstanding role” the country’s first President played towards independence.

“It is entirely appropriate that we commemorate him for that role, by designating his birthday as the permanent day of his remembrance,” the statement added.

But CPP said contrary to claims by the government, the President has no interest in correcting the history of Ghana.

It is about protecting President Akufo-Addo's family lineage, the Nkrumahist party said.

Mr Kadri Rauf said UGCC founders, which include the President’s father, Edward Akufo-Addo, and uncle, Dr. J.B Danquah, do not deserve any holiday because their actions would have delayed the country’s independence.

“UGCC’s self-government within the shortest possible time was the same understanding in South Africa, which led to their independence in 1993,” he said.

He believes there cannot be any founders. “We have only one founder,” he said.