As a nation, we need to rethink the observance of some of our holidays.

As much as practicable, our holidays should be observed on days, instead of dates. This will allow us to fix applicable holidays on Mondays and Fridays.

So Founders’ Day, falling on the 4th of August can be observed on the first Monday of August. Kwame Nkrumah’s day, falling 21st of September, can be observed on the third Friday or Monday of September. They then become Founders Memorial Weekend, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Weekend etc. The celebration then goes over three days instead of one day.

We also then avoid this situation of a holiday falling in the middle of the week, such as today, which breaks the weekly work cycle, with its effects on productivity.

I hope Parliament can debate this through a private member’s bill so we can have some movement on this.

Source: Nana Akomea (Managing Director, State Transport Corporation)