Who truly founded our beloved nation Ghana?
Was it a single man with unmatched vision, or a chorus of patriots whose diverse philosophies laid the first stones of freedom? And even more importantly, is the person truly what matters most, or is it the enduring ideology they carried that should guide us?
These questions, though often confined to lecture halls, political debates, and newspaper columns, have quietly simmered in the hearts of ordinary Ghanaians like teachers, traders, students, artisans, who want to understand the story of their country beyond slogans and statues.
Now, those age-old questions have returned with renewed urgency following President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to reinstate July 1st as a statutory public holiday, now rebranded as the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
Reinstatement
The reinstatement of July 1st as a statutory public holiday has rekindled tensions over the legacy and meaning of the country’s nationhood, while the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Council of Elders has launched a counter-initiative aimed at honouring the founding ideals of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), raising the question: Will Founders’ Day be quietly phased out in favour of Republic Day?
President Mahama’s move, first announced on April 26, 2025, and reiterated at the Perez Chapel on May 4 during the Supernatural Empowerment Summit, marks a symbolic reversal of the 2019 holiday reforms by the Akufo-Addo administration. Under those reforms, August 4th (Founders’ Day) was introduced to honour the broader constellation of independence pioneers, particularly the “Big Six,” whose collective efforts shaped the nation’s early political awakening. July 1st, which once marked Republic Day, was reduced to a commemorative (non-statutory) status.
But President Mahama argues that the soul of Ghana was truly born not in 1957, when the country attained independence as a dominion under the British Crown, but on July 1, 1960, when Ghana became a sovereign republic. “That is Ghana’s real birthday,” he declared, adding that the day must be solemnly observed with national prayer and thanksgiving to God.
To this end, a national planning committee chaired by Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has been constituted to organise interfaith commemorations inclusive of Christians, Muslims, and traditionalists. Mr. Ankrah said the day would not only reflect on Ghana’s spiritual heritage but also promote unity, gratitude, and moral consciousness. “This is about raising our national spirit,” he said.
Criticism
Yet, this recalibration of national memory has drawn criticism from some quarters, particularly within the NPP, which sees the President’s decision as politically motivated and ideologically divisive. For them, the deliberate elevation of July 1st, coupled with growing silence around August 4th, signals an attempt to erase the legacy of the UGCC and downplay the contributions of political actors who laid the foundational principles of Ghana’s democratic journey before Kwame Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party (CPP) took centre stage.
In a symbolic response, the NPP Council of Elders, in collaboration with the party’s Strategic Planning Committee, has unveiled a detailed proposal to mark August 4, 2025, as a day of solemn reflection and celebration of classical values championed by the UGCC. Dubbed “Voices of the Free”, the event is designed to reaffirm the ideals of freedom, liberty, property rights, decentralisation, and rule of law—tenets that the UGCC first inscribed into Ghana’s political consciousness.
Commemoration
The commemorative event is slated to take place at the party’s headquarters in Asylum Down, Accra, and promises a rich cultural, historical, and philosophical programme. Activities will include spoken word performances, poetry, musical interludes, personal testimonies, candlelight vigils, and keynote addresses reflecting on the enduring relevance of UGCC values in today’s governance landscape.
“This celebration is not about nostalgia—it is about reviving a moral compass,” the proposal declares. “Though movements may fade, ideals endure.”
The Council insists that the UGCC, though no longer an active political force, remains Ghana’s first organised nationalist movement and deserves its place in national history. “To honour the UGCC is to honour Ghana’s political conscience,” one senior elder remarked. “It was the UGCC that lit the flame. Nkrumah fanned it, but the light started from Saltpond.”
Critics within the NPP accuse President Mahama of attempting to “rewrite history through holiday politics,” suggesting that reinstating July 1 and sidelining Founders’ Day marginalises other independence architects and centres history solely on the Republic era led by Nkrumah and the CPP. Some even interpret the move as part of a broader ideological reorientation by the Mahama-led government, positioning it closer to Nkrumahist traditions while alienating liberal democratic narratives.
Defensive
President Mahama, however, defends his decision as a unifying spiritual gesture rather than a partisan act. Quoting both the Qur’an and the Bible in his speeches, he has framed the new Republic Day celebrations as a call to national repentance, prayer, and gratitude, an attempt, he says, to anchor the nation’s moral compass in divine reverence and peace.
Yet, I think the parallel celebration planned by the NPP Council of Elders paints a competing picture, one of ideological contest and historical reclamation. It raises fundamental questions: Can a nation sustain multiple commemorative focal points without deepening political fractures? Can religious unity coexist with political divergence in memory-making? Will the spirit of Founders’ Day survive in the shadow of a resurgent Republic Day?
As August 4th approaches, Ghanaians are once again reminded that holidays are not merely days off—they are battlegrounds for memory, identity, and ideological soul-searching.
Conclusion
A nation is more than a name, more than borders. It is a set of values, dreams, and aspirations that a people agree to pursue together. And while individuals can be powerful vessels of change, their legacy should not be enshrined in their personality, but in the ideologies and principles they embodied. Across the world, modern nations are learning to shift their gaze from cults of personality to systems of belief. Mandela is revered in South Africa not simply because he was Mandela, but because he stood for reconciliation and dignity in the face of racial hatred. In the United States, the Founding Fathers are less revered for their names and more for the democratic ideals enshrined in the Constitution, ideals that continue to evolve long after their deaths.
If we reduce our founding to a name, we risk turning our history into a battleground of personalities. But if we elevate the conversation to ideology, we unlock a more powerful question: What kind of Ghana were they dreaming of—and how do we build it today? That dream was not about titles or egos. It was about sovereignty, justice, equity, and African pride. It was about empowering ordinary people, building institutions that outlast leaders, and crafting an identity rooted not in colonial inheritance but in collective African purpose.
Because the truth is simple: the founder may fade, but the ideology must live on.
The writer, Bright Philip Donkor, is the News Editor of the Daily Statesman.
