K.T Hammond Backs Gov't Not To Recognize Nkrumah As The Only Founder Of Ghana

Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi-Asokwa, K.T Hammond has mounted a spirited defence for the government's holidays Amendment Bill insisting that there was no way Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah will be recognized as the only founder of the country.

The Minority in Parliament on Thursday staged a walkout to express their disapproval for the holiday Amendment Bill currently before the House which seeks to scrap Republic and AU days as public holidays and introduce August 4 as Founders' Day and January 7 as Constitution Day leaving September 21 as a commemorative day.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), known for its support for Nkrumaist ideals, deems this move as an attempt to distort Ghana's history.

But reacting to the concerns of the Minority on Eyewitness news, KT Hammond insisted that the argument by the Minority was flawed simply because the amendment has the backing of many historians in the country.

“This is an extremely poor analogy by the Minority which is rather annoying a number of historians in this country. Let us get history right, how will you say there is only one founder of Ghana? We [NPP] of our [Dombo-Busia] tradition will never accept that Kwame Nkrumah was the founder of Ghana. He was one of them. Among the lot, I will not even say he is the Primus inter pares.”

“We have Paa Grant and JB Danquah, Ako Adjei putting together resources to bring you from the diaspora, how do you come and say you are the person who started the talk. We will never agree”, he fumed.

If NDC changes it, we'll also keep changing

Already, the NDC has indicated its resolve to fight the change saying that they will revert the new holidays should they recapture power.

But the legislator has also served notice to the opposition that the party will continue making the amendment anytime they are in office to consolidate what he says are the ideals of the country.

“I pray that they will never come to government again, but perish the talk if they ever come and as they promise to change it, we will come back and change it. Historians have settled this and if we politicians do not accept the fact of history as established by the historians, we will also keep changing it anytime we come into power.”

NDC gov't will revert Nana Addo's new holidays – Agbana

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), will reverse the decision by the current government to introduce 4th August and 7th January as new statutory public holidays.

This is the indication from the party's Deputy Youth Organizer, Eric Edem Agbana.

Edem Agbana said the August 4 holiday proposed by the government for an amendment, was a deliberate attempt to downplay the efforts of Ghana's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana's independence from the British.

He believes the amendment will give a wrong impression about Ghana's history.

“I will not be surprised if parliament irrespective of the facts available, irrespective of what the true history of Ghana is, go ahead to pass this. Anytime that the NDC government comes back to parliament, we will make sure that we will reverse this, we will repeal this and make sure that we get the 21st September and celebrate it properly as the Founder's day,” he said.

New Holidays

Although the Amendment Bill has been tabled in parliament for deliberations , there have been varied views on the celebration of the Constitution Day.

The Head of European Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof. Yaw Gyampo, in a statement on the matter said the celebration of Constitution Day is a celebration of “mediocrity”.

The government contended that celebrating the day as Founder's day with Ghana's independence achievement credited solely to Nkrumah was wrong as others including the Dr. J.B. Danquah also played key roles in the country's independence struggle.

Some persons and groups including the Convention People's Party which was formed by Kwame Nkrumah criticized the government for the declaration, describing it as an attempt to rewrite the country's history.

–citinewsroom