Govt suspends rotational policy of Independence Day celebration

The government has suspended the rotational celebration of Ghana’s Independence Day celebration and national parade, which is held on March 6 every year, citing the unsustainable costs associated with organizing the event.

To save costs, the government has opted to host the 68th Independence Day celebration at the Jubilee House.

This new directive was announced by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, on Wednesday, February 12, 2024.

He noted that the last celebration in Ho, for example, cost the public purse GHC 15 million, prompting concerns over its sustainability.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu assured the public that the event at Jubilee House will feature a military guard of honour and other significant ceremonial activities to commemorate the nation’s independence.

“In the last few years, there has been an effort to rotate the celebration amongst various regional capitals. Whereas the intentions behind it may be noble, President Mahama has asked that the rotational policy be suspended because of the need to scale down.

“This has become necessary because of escalating costs. It has been discovered after some review that the rotation imposed additional costs, and therefore, at a time when our national budget is severely constrained due to economic difficulties, it was not going to be sustainable to keep rotating the national celebration,” he stated.