The Ministry of Interior has declared Monday, September 23, 2024, as a statutory public holiday to honour the Memorial Day of Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which falls on September 21.

In a statement issued on September 19, the Minister for the Interior, Henry Quartey, urged the public to observe the holiday across the country.

“However, in view of the fact that 21st September 2024 falls on a Saturday, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, has by Executive Instrument (E.I.), in accordance with Section 2 of the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act, (Act 601), declared Monday, 23rd September 2024 as an additional Public Holiday, and it should be observed as such throughout the country,” he stated.

The holiday stems from the New Public Holidays Act of 2018, which amended the Public Holidays Act of 2001.

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day is a statutory public holiday observed in the country to mark the birthday of Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who was born on September 21, 1909, in Nkroful, near Axim, in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region, in the then Gold Coast, now Ghana.

This year would mark the 115th birthday of Dr Nkrumah if he were alive.