Akufo-Addo: Election 2024 is my last challenge as President

President Akufo-Addo has stated that having served nearly 8 years in office as President he considers the 7 December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections as the last challenge he has to deal with before he retires from office on 7 January 2025.

He observed in his last address to senior citizens when hosted them at a banquet at the Jubilee House today, 5 August 2024, as part of activities marking the observation of 4 August as Founders Day in the country.

President Akufo-Addo in his address noted that like Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, it has been the greatest honour of his life to have served two terms in office. He further indicated that he has done his best especially, steering the ship of state through the deeply troubling times of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermaths.

“Its been a very difficult time and most of us can see that we are now turning the corner and we are turning our economy back to normalcy and revived growth, the growth that made our economy one of the fastest growing economies in the word in the years prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. We did it in the past, we will do it again.

“The last major challenge for me is to preside over peaceful and fair elections in December and that is a commitment that with the help of all Ghanaians, I intend to realise,” President Akufo-Addo said in his brief remarks at the senior citizens’ luncheon.

“The people of Ghana deserve no less than to be given the best atmosphere in which to choose freely, their next President and Parliament. I intend to ensure that our reputation as the beacon of democracy and stability in Africa and the world is maintained,” Akufo-Addo added.

Founders Day

Founders Day (4th August) holds historical importance in Ghana as it marks the contributions of successive generations of Ghanaians who played pivotal roles in liberating the country from colonial rule.

The decision to designate this day as a public holiday was part of a broader initiative by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who proposed amendments to the Public Holiday Act in 2018.

The Public Holidays Amendment Bill, 2018, which was presented by Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, led to the cancellation of three existing public holidays and introduced two new holidays.

As a result, Founders Day was designated on 4 August, while 21 September was set aside as a Memorial Day for Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in recognition of his significant role in the fight for Ghana’s independence on March 6.

The three holidays affected by this amendment were the Republic Holiday, previously observed on July 1, the African Union (AU) Holiday, observed on May 25, and the Founders’ Day, which fell on Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, 21 September.

According to the bill’s explanation section, 4 August was chosen to replace Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day because it holds historical significance as the day when Ghana’s independence movement began in 1947.

On this date, Ghanaian patriots such as George Alfred Grant, J.B. Danquah, R.A. Awoonor-Williams, Edward Akufo-Addo, Ebenezer Ako Adjei, and various chiefs formed the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).

The UGCC was founded on the principles of the Fante Confederacy of 1868 and the Aborigines Rights Protection Society of 1897, with a shared mission of achieving Ghana’s independence.

While Founders Day has been established as an official public holiday, two opposition political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP), have indicated that they might consider scrapping the holiday if they come into power.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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