{"id":595293,"date":"2019-02-28T18:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T18:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"

Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said the opposition won't partake in the process to rewrite Ghana's history<\/p>

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"},"modified":"2019-02-28T18:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T18:40:09","slug":"minority-walks-out-of-parliament-in-heated-founders-day-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/02\/28\/minority-walks-out-of-parliament-in-heated-founders-day-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Minority walks out of Parliament in heated Founders\u2019 Day debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said the opposition won’t partake in the process to rewrite Ghana’s history<\/p>\n

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Tempers flared\u00a0in Parliament Thursday as legislators debated proposed changes to Ghana\u2019s statutory holidays.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Minority in the House is kicking against the changes in what they say is the overt attempt to rewrite the history of Ghana.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe history of this country will not be distorted. We will not allow our heritage to be ripped,\u201d MP for North Tongu, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa fumed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill, previously justified by President Nana Akufo-Addo himself, seeks to scrap some statutory holidays and replace them with new ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As the debate got heated, the Minority, led by Haruna Iddrisu walked out.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the changes?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

January 7, which is the date on which\u00a0the 1992 Constitution came into force and on which Presidents are sworn into office will be celebrated as Constitution Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill also seeks to make August 4, Founders\u2019 Day; the most controversial of all.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Currently, there is a Founder\u2019s Day, which is celebrated on September, 21; the birthday of the first President, Kwame Nkrumah.<\/span><\/p>\n

The government wants this changed because on August 4, 1897, the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was founded to resist colonial rule, which started Ghana\u2019s long walk to freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Minority NDC\u00a0insist the \u2018anti-Nkrumah\u2019 NPP government is bent on rewriting history in an effort to obliterate Nkrumah\u2019s memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Minority leader said they concede a lot of people played a role in Ghana\u2019s independence struggle but \u201cthere was an icon and that icon is Kwame Nkrumah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n