Republic Day: Speaker described as ‘anti-Nkrumah’ for proposing Republic Day change

A member of the Minority says the Speaker's proposition are borne out of a dislike for Dr. Nkrumah.

The Speaker of Parliament Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye has been described as ‘anti-Kwame Nkrumah’ following his call for a change in date of Ghana’s Republic Day.

This is according to the Member of Parliament for Mion, Mohammed Abdul-Aziz, who believes Prof. Ocquaye has shown over the years that he clearly dislikes Dr. Nkrumah.

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In an opinion piece published in the Daily Graphic, the Speaker argued that Ghana’s Republic Day should be moved from the 1^st of July to the 7^th of January.

He explained that it is erroneous to use a date in Ghana’s First Republic to mark the country’s Republic Day, whiles we are actually in the Fourth Republic.

According to him, the Fourth Republic began on January 7, 1993, when Jerry John Rawlings was sworn in as president, and that should be marked as Ghana’s Republic Day.

However, responding to the Speaker’s proposition for a change in date, Minority MP Mohammed Abdul-Aziz said such calls only depict “anti-Nkrumaism”.

According to him, such moves are fueled by a motive to “obliterate the achievements of Nkrumah”.

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“Very akin to the Speaker of Parliament,…his anti-Nkrumaism is very clear and at the least opportunity he will want to espouse those traits in him," Mr, Abdul-Aziz said on the AM Show, on Joy News channel.

“We [Ghana] do not celebrate the 4th Republican constitution on July 1 but what we celebrate is the status of Ghana as a sovereign state when we achieved full independence on July 1, 1960.

“All attempts to obliterate the achievements of Nkrumah will not succeed and at all times we will look at him in the face and say as a country we won’t accept this,” he added.

It must be noted that this is not the first time that Prof. Ocquaye has made such a controversial suggestion.

A few years ago the Speaker bitterly rejected moves by the then NDC government to name Nkrumah as Ghana’s founder, and to subsequently declare his birthday, 21^st September, a public holiday.

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In his view, it is not appropriate to acknowledge Dr. Nkrumah as Ghana’s sole founder when a host of others also fought for the country to achieve independence.

Upon winning power in 2016, the NPP went on to change the Founder's Day to Founders’ Day before eventually moving it to August 4^th, with the government declaring that September 21 will now be known as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.

A member of the Minority says the Speaker's proposition are borne out of a dislike for Dr. Nkrumah. Read Full Story