Francis-Xavier Sosu: Madina MP proposes amendments to move all holidays that fall on “productive days” to Friday

The first bill known as “the Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (No.1) 1. Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (No.1),” has a primary purpose of ensuring effective use of public holidays to ensure productivity.

Among others, this bill seeks to amend the Public Holidays (Amendment) Act, 2001, Act 601, to remove the power of the President to declare additional public holidays, grant authority to the President to merge public holidays, postpone the celebration of public holidays on productive days to Friday, remove criminal sanctions for non-observance of public holidays, and provide for related matters.

“When passed public holidays that fall on days between Tuesday and Thursday shall be observed on Fridays. A substitute public holiday is an ordinary day treated like a public holiday instead of an actual public holiday. The basis for this proposal stems from the fact that productivity may be at its peak in the middle of the working week, say on a Tuesday or Wednesday,” portions of a statement signed by him read.

The proposed amendment also gives relevant power and authority to the President by Executive Instrument merged in a particular calendar year the celebration of any two public holidays in the public interest and the interest of productivity.

Currently, by practice, public holidays that fall on weekends are not marked as such, but such public holidays are postponed to Mondays, which fall on a working day, which contributes to loss of revenue by the State. By this amendment, such practice would be done away with.

Also, the proposal seeks to abolish the regime of criminalizing conduct associated with public holidays by repealing the Offences and Penalties provisions under section 5 of Act 601.

Introduction of Bill for Two (2) New Islamic Holidays:

In recognition of the constitutional right to freedom of religion, the second bill proposes extending the public holidays for Muslims from one to two days for each Islamic festivity.

The Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (No.2) seeks to include Tashreeq (a day after the Eid-al-Adha Festival) and Shaqq (a day before the Eid-al-Fitr) as Public Holidays and provide for related matters.

In explaining the rationale behind this move, Mr Sosu said the right of every Ghanaian to freedom of religion is a fundamental one.

“In Article 21(c) every Ghanian has the freedom to practice any religion and to manifest any religion. Being the 2^nd dominant religion in Ghana, Ghanaian Muslims must have equal opportunities when it comes to the celebration of religious festivals. After 40 days of mandatory religious obligation of fasting, practitioners of Islamic Religion deserve an additional day for rest and to prepare for full activities.”

“As such, the proposed days are the day before the Eid-al-Fitr which is observed by Muslims as the Shaqq day (a day before the end of the holy month of Ramadan in which Muslims mark the end of the fast), and the Tashreeq day (a day after the Eid-al-Adha in which Muslims remember the unwavering trust by Prophet Ibrahim to offer his son as a sacrifice). The religious significance of these holidays is to afford Muslims the opportunity to fully manifest and observe their faith, and offer gratitude to Allah for all that He has done, granted them, and continues to do; as well as for them to fully place and restore their trust in Allah and His abundant care, Grace and wisdom.”

“Article 17(1) of the 1992 Constitution provides that “All persons are equal before the law”, and (2) states that “A person shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status. Also, Article 26(1) states that “All persons shall have the right to freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such practice.”

“Also, Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides that “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.”

He also added that “Under the current regime, it is unfair, discriminatory, and does not allow for the full manifestation of the Islamic faith by Muslims as enshrined and guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution and other international laws and treaties.”