President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on Ghanaians to reject the single founder narrative and recognize the collective efforts of all founding fathers in the nation’s independence. During the Founders’ Day celebration on August 3, 2024, Akufo-Addo emphasized that Ghana’s freedom from colonial rule was a collective effort, not solely the achievement of Kwame Nkrumah.
The change from “Founder’s Day” to “Founders’ Day” reflects this inclusive perspective. The original Founder’s Day, celebrated on September 21, honored Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday and his monumental contributions. However, this exclusive recognition sidelined other key figures in Ghana’s independence struggle.
President Akufo-Addo proposed the new date, August 4, to commemorate two significant events: the formation of the Gold Coast Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society in 1897 and the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947.
This shift acknowledges the contributions of all members of the Big Six, including Edward Akufo-Addo, Joseph Boakye Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, William Ofori Atta, and Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, alongside Nkrumah. The first Founders’ Day was celebrated on August 4, 2019, marking a new era of recognizing Ghana’s collective heritage.