Founders Day Controversy: Akufo-Addo Dividing Ghanaians - Lecturer

President Nana Akufo-Addo has been criticised creating controversy with his decision to change Founders Day from September 21 to August 4 Founders Day.

According to a Senior Lecturer in the History and Political Studies Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, the President seems to be pushing an agenda to project the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) formed in 1947 by J.B. Danquah and George Alfred “Paa” Grant, beyond tolerable limits.

“The move by the president will only create division among Ghanaians because the proposed celebration lacks the basis in Ghana’s history which will not bring national cohesion,” he stated.

Dr. Adu-Gyamfi was speaking on Adom FM’s Burning Issues programme hosted by Afia Pokua.

Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugine Arhin, issued a statement recently indicating that President Nana Akufo-Addo will propose legislation to designate August 4 as Founders Day.

The statement said: “It is clear that successive generations of Ghanaians made vital contributions to the liberation of our country from imperialism and colonialism. It is, therefore, fitting that we honour them, as those who contributed to the founding of our nation.

“The most appropriate way to honour them is to commemorate the day on which the two most significant events in our colonial political history, that led us to independence, occurred – 4th August.”

However, speaking on the current affairs programme, Dr Adu-Gyamfi said he does not “understand why the President and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is using this to bring division among Ghanaians.”

The birthday of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, on September 21, which was originally observed as Founder’s Day will now be observed as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day , according to the statement.

August 4 is noted as the date for the formation of the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society by John Mensah Sarbah in 1897, and the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947 by J.B. Danquah and George Alfred “Paa” Grant.

Already members of 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.

But Dr Adu-Gyamfi has cautioned the President against the move, suggesting that it will create too many.

He said Ghana’s history must not be diluted.