Why July 1st Should Stay Republic Day: A Letter to Ghana 

Picture this: It’s your birthday morning. You wake up excited, ready to celebrate another year of life. Then your father walks in with a serious expression.

“Son, forget the celebration. Henceforth, we’re using your birthday to pray to your late grandfather. Without him, I wouldn’t exist. Without me, you wouldn’t exist.”

You’d probably ask the obvious question: “Dad, why can’t we pick any other day to honour grandpa? Why does it have to be MY birthday?”

That’s exactly what’s happening to Ghana right now.

Our president wants to turn July 1st into a National Day of Prayer. July 1st. Our Republic Day. The day we declared our sovereignty and threw off the colonial yoke forever.

Here’s why this decision troubles me deeply.

July 1st isn’t just another date on the calendar. It’s the most important day in our national life.

Think about it. This was originally our national accounting day. Our budget year started on July 1st. Everything that mattered to Ghana as a sovereign nation began on this date.

July 1, 1960, wasn’t just paperwork. It was the day we looked the world in the eye and said: “We are Ghana. We govern ourselves. We determine our destiny.”

That declaration cost blood, sweat, and dreams. People died for that moment. Families were torn apart. Futures were sacrificed.

And now we want to replace that bold narrative with… prayer?

Let me share what I’ve observed about prayer and politics in Ghana.

They prayed at the galamsey sites. The illegal mining continued.

They prayed for the dollar to stabilise. It got worse.

They prayed against corruption. Then look what happened with the National Cathedral funds.

They held prayer sessions at the Akosombo Dam during the drought. Know what solved the power crisis? New power plants.

I’m not against prayer. I’m a Christian myself. But as the Good Book says: “Faith without works is dead.”

The real question we should be asking is this: Which God exactly are we praying to?

Ghana recognises multiple forms of worship officially. We have Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion. Yet somehow, only Christian and Islamic services would be observed on this proposed National Prayer Day.

Are we saying our traditional priests don’t commune with the Almighty? Are we saying the spirituality that sustained our ancestors for centuries is somehow less valid?

This feels like the slow erasure of our identity. The gradual replacement of our authentic story with borrowed narratives.

Here’s what bothers me about this whole thing.

We have Christmas. We have Easter. We have Islamic holidays. There are 365 days in a year, and we’re picking the ONE day that belongs uniquely to Ghana’s story of self-determination.

It’s like having a house full of empty rooms and deciding to hold your meeting in the only room that’s already perfectly set up for something else.

Why July 1st? Why not pick any other day and make it special for prayer?

As Karl Marx once said, “Religion is the opium of the masses.”

I see politicians using this strategy over and over. When people are frustrated with corruption, unemployment, and broken promises, offer them prayers instead of solutions.

When the economy is struggling, when young people can’t find jobs, when healthcare is failing, they redirect their attention to spiritual matters.

It’s the oldest political trick in the book.

So, what should July 1st be?

• A day of reflection, yes. But reflection on our journey, our struggles, and our victories.
• A day to ask hard questions: Are we living up to the dreams of those who fought for our independence? Are we truly governing ourselves, or are we still mentally colonised?
• A day to educate every Ghanaian about what becoming a republic means. What sovereignty costs. What self-determination requires.
• A day to honour the courage and defiance that brought us this far.
• A day to recommit ourselves to building the Ghana our ancestors envisioned.

The proposal to turn July 1st into a prayer day betrays everything this date represents.

It replaces boldness with subservience. Strength with dependency. Action with passivity.

Our ancestors didn’t pray their way to independence. They organised. They strategised. They sacrificed. They fought.

They understood that freedom isn’t given. It’s taken.

Here’s my challenge to every Ghanaian reading this.

July 1st should remain Republic Day. Not because I’m against prayer, but because some things are too precious to compromise.

Your birthday matters because it’s YOUR day. July 1st matters because it’s Ghana’s day.

Let’s preserve what makes us unique. Let’s celebrate what makes us strong.

Let’s choose substance over symbolism.

If you want a National Day of Prayer, pick another date. Make it meaningful. Make it inclusive of all our spiritual traditions.

But leave July 1st alone.

Because the day we stop remembering how we became free is the day we start forgetting why freedom matters.

And Ghana deserves better than that.

What do you think? Are we protecting our Republic Day, or am I missing something important here?