To June 4th or Not – The Holiday Debate in Ghana (Part I)

Part I of a 4-Part Series

Introduction

In the weeks leading to June 4th 2009, I noticed that many lawyers who appeared in court were avoiding that date in taking case adjournments. The reason was that they (and probably most Ghanaians) did not know whether or not that day would be declared a public holiday, and as such did not want to take the chance of fixing a matter on that date. I was also privy to discussions and debates on whether or not that date should be declared a public holiday. Two questions arising from those discussions stuck with me and inspired me to write this piece. The first was whether or June 4th ‘deserved’ to be celebrated as a public holiday? The second was whether Ghana had already too many holidays, and could not afford to add another?

I know many people who waited to hear the ‘traditional’ announcement of a holiday by the Minister of Interior. No announcement was made. On June 3rd, many government ministers appeared at and spoke at a seminar to mark the 30th anniversary of June 4th; the most notable absentee was President Mills. When the 6 o’clock radio news bulletins on June 3rd did not carry the Minister of Interior’s announcement, it became obvious that President Mills was not going to declare a public holiday. Come June 4th there was the wreath laying ceremony at the ‘Revolution Square’ which required the blocking of the major road from 37 Military Hospital to the traffic lights at Afrikiko by the police. This caused heavy traffic to the annoyance and inconvenience of many. President Mills did not show up at the event. There was also the mammoth June 4th rally at Kasoa to mark the day. President Mills was not there. Vice President Mahama was also not present at any of those events, although we were later informed that he had travelled.

However, in the 8th-9th June edition of The Enquirer Newspaper, a junior member of the government, the Deputy Minister for the Northern Region, one Moses Mabengba, is reported to have told the “64 Bench and Daughters and Sons of Atta Mills wings, supporters and sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress” in Tamale that the government will reinstate June 4th as a statutory public holiday “after necessary considerations have been made.” The newspaper report did not clarify what Mr. Mabengba meant by “necessary considerations.”

I think that the President’s decision not to declare the day as a public holiday and his absence from the major commemorative activities surrounding that date is a significant confirmation that the days when June 4th was automatically considered and declared a public holiday are over. President Mills has answered the first question thus: as far as he is concerned, June 4th does not deserve to be observed as a public holiday. Some newspapers have speculated that the state must have spent a lot of money to commemorate this June 4th. If that is true, then it would indeed be very unfortunate and regrettable. But we cannot miss the clear message that President Mills has sent to Ghanaians, first, by not declaring that date a public holiday, and second, by not showing up at any of the public commemorative events. These, to me, are very good signs that cannot and should not be ignored. We should ignore romantics like Mr. Mabengba.

But the second question, i.e. whether Ghana has too many holidays and cannot afford another, remains unanswered. I think that this is a matter that Ghanaians have to debate, and I will try to tackle that as well in this writing. Yes, I think that we have too many public holidays.

The word “holiday” is a contraction of two words, “holy” and “day”. The word originally referred only to special religious days. However, in modern usage, it generally refers to any special day of rest. A public holiday is a day of such magnitude and significance to a country that it is observed with rest across that country. The observance of public holidays is of such importance that under Ghana’s 2001 Public Holidays Act (and it many of its predecessor statutes), it is an offence to engage in work on such a day. The Act expressly forbids the opening of a shop for the purposes of selling or trading or engaging in any business on a public holiday. People who do not observe this bar on work are liable to be arrested and summarily tried, and if convicted, sentenced to a fine, a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months, or to both. My definition of a “public holiday” in Ghana, flowing from the above, is that it is a legally mandatory, compulsory or obligatory day of rest, enforced on the pain of punishment.

Thus observing statutory holidays is not a simple matter or a whimsical fancy. The government, which has the power to impose statutory holidays, must appreciate that the exercise of this power means subjecting the citizenry to the mandatory rest day, and that the citizen who fails, refuses or neglects to observe that day is liable to possible imprisonment. Thus a date on the calendar should only be elevated to the status of a statutory holiday if that date of definite, unquestionable and wide national significance and importance. It is indeed a breach of any government’s obligations to govern fairly, if it announces, declares or imposes a date as a statutory holiday, where that date and its observance only serves the narrow interests of a section of the nation.

Further, and as I have stated above, I believe that it is time to take another look at the issue of the number of national holidays that we observe in Ghana. I firmly believe that we should rationalise and reduce the number of days that we have as national holidays, and consider re-introducing Saturdays as working days.