‘There will be two holidays for this year’s Salah festivities’ — Mahama fulfills promise to Muslims

President John Mahama has announced that this year’s Salah festivities will be celebrated with two public holidays.

The announcement was made during the National Muslim Prayer and Thanksgiving Service on Friday, January 10, 2025.

Mahama revealed that the government intends to amend the Holidays Act to include an additional holiday in observance of Eid al-Fitr.

This change means that Muslims in Ghana will enjoy an extra day of celebration following the completion of Ramadan.

“We are going to amend the holidays Act to include an extra holiday on the occasion of Eid Fitr. And so this year, after we finish the fast of the Ramadan, we will have two holidays for the salah festivities,” President Mahama stated during his address.

The move is expected to enhance the significance of the Eid celebrations, allowing Muslims more time to observe the religious festivities with family and the community.

This was part of the promises made by the president while campaigning for the 2024 elections.

Speaking during the 63rd Annual National Conference of the Ghana Muslim Mission in Kumasi on Friday, December 29, 2023, then NDC flagbearer emphasized modifying the Public Holidays Act to benefit Muslims, adding that he would ensure it does not affect productivity.

“It is our intention to resolve the situation where some of our Muslim brothers and sisters do not enjoy the public holiday at the end of Ramadan fast due to the 29 or 30-day rule based on sighting the moon. Therefore, we will add a holiday to the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr. If Insha-Allah we are voted into office, we will add an additional holiday to the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration. And we are going to do this by reconfiguring the Public Holiday Act so that Ghana maintains the same number of public holidays per year so that we do not affect productivity,” Mr Mahama assured.