Member of Parliament for Assin Central Constituency in the Central region is advocating for a reduction in the number of public holidays in the country.
Kennedy Agyapong said the current system where almost every landmark day is observed as a impedes national development.
His concerns come after President Akufo-Addo propose legislation to Parliament to designate August 4 as Founders Day, instead of September 21 for the Founders Day celebration.
He proposed that September 21 be observed as ‘Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day’.
If passed by Parliament, August 4 will be a public holiday increasing the revenue loses of the country since Ghana is documented to lose close to 7 billion cedis worth of work productivity to public holiday.
Many including lawyers are calling for a reduction in the number of public holiday especially in a country like Ghana where the economy said to be below the upper middle-income bracket.
In support, Ken Agyapong on Adom TV’s Morning Show ‘Badwam’ Tuesday suggested some of the public holidays be merged and others too we can scrap or remove from our calendar.
“The holidays are too much in Ghana. Government should streamline it so we can move forward”.
The Assin Central MP said productivity is virtually grounded on every public holiday which huge revenue loses to government.
Noting that he is not against the Founders’ Day celebrations, the outspoken MP said productivity should be paramount it we want Ghana to develop.
Ken Agyapong commended President Akufo-Addo for the proposal stating that those who fought for the independence of the Ghana must be celebrated.
“What I believe is that they can set a founders day so we celebrate it once. They should set it as “founders’ day” to showcase everyone’s role they played each year. It can even educate the citizenry in terms of history. I don’t have problem with that…” he stressed.
Ken Agyapong however challenged President Akufo-Addo to go beyond the legacies of Dr. Kwamne Nkrumah to accelerate Ghana’s development.
“I don’t have a problem with Nkrumah standing tall. He did great things for Ghana. He is a dreamer. He did a lot for Ghana. Akufo-Addo has a challenge to beat what Nkrumah did…” he stressed.
Listen to Ken Agyapong speaking on Adom TV