PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AND COMMEMORATIVE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2025 (ACT 1142)

There are fourteen (14) celebrated public holidays and one (1) commemorative in Ghana in the year 2025 to equal a total of fifteen (15).Public holidays have three distinctive features.

1. National – Celebration recognizes important events in the country’s history, culture and sociopolitical landscape.

2. Regional or Continental – Recognizes the principles of Pan Africanism and achievements over colonialism and fight against the threat of neocolonialism to establish the identity of a people and nation. Example is the rich history, culture and solidarity of black Africa and continent.

3. International – Celebration recognizes important universal religious events of her people. Christians and Muslims holidays have same days celebrations worldwide in the spirit of unity of faith and social cohesion.

It is important to note that all local public holidays and non – commemorative holidays are shaped and celebrated in the spirit and letter of international accepted democratic principles, norms, and human rights and liberties.

Ghana’s Public Holidays and Commemorative Act, (Amendment), 2025 (Act 1142) has the following features.

1. Section 3 of the Public Holidays and Commemorative Act 201 amended to Section 3(2) of the Public Holidays and Commemorative (Amendment) Act, 2025 to have Substituted Holidays. Where a Public Holiday falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, the President may by Executive Instrument declare Friday or Monday as a Public Holiday.

2. Additionally, where a Public Holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the President, may by Executive Instrument declare Monday as the Public Holiday.

3. Note that Substituted Holidays do not apply to religious Public Holidays such as Eid-ul-Fitr, Shaqq Day, Eid-ul-Adha, Christmas Day and Boxing Day and Easter holidays.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019 ACT 986

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1. Short Title of Act 601 amended
2. Section 1 of Act 601 amended
3. Section 4A inserted
4. Section 7 of Act 601 amended
5. Schedule to Act 601 amended

REPUBLIC OF GHANA

THE NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIXTH ACT

OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA

ENTITLED

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019

AN  ACT  to amend  the Public  Holidays Act,  2001 (Act  601) to provide for the T” day of January, the 4^th day of August and  the 21^st day of September as statutory   public  holidays and for related matters.

DATE OF ASSENT:11^th April, 2019.

PASSED by Parliament and assented to by the President:

Short Title to Act 601 amended

1. The Pubic Holidays Act, 2001 (Act 601) referred to in this Act as the “principal enactment” is amended by the substitution for the Short Title, of “Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act,   2001 (Act 601)”.

Section 1 of Act 601 amended

1. The principal enactment is amended in section 1 by the insertion before the word “Schedule”, of “First”.

Section 4A inserted

1. The principal enactment is amended by the insertion after section 4, of

“Commemorative days

4A.  A day specified in the Second Schedule shall be celebrated as a commemorative day.”

Section 7 of Act 601 amended

1. The principal enactment is amended by the substitution for section of

Interpretation

1. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “commemorative day” means a day other than a

. statutory public   holiday   which   is set  aside  in remembrance     of  an  important     person   or  an important  event in the past; and

“shop” includes a store or any premises for the sale of goods.” .

Schedule to Act 601 amended

1. The principal enactment is amended by the substitution  for the Schedule of,

Public holidays (amendment) act, 2019 act 986 – GHANA LAW

Source: http://elibrary.jsg.gov.gh › laws of ghana

Culled from the E – Library of the Judicial Service of Ghana

LABOUR ACT, 2003 (ACT 651) – SECTIONS 20 – 31

PART IV—GENERAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT Sub-Part I—Annual Leave with Pay

Section 20—Leave Entitlement.

(1) In any undertaking every worker is entitled to not less than fifteen working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.

(2) The expression “full pay” means the worker’s normal remuneration, without overtime payment, including the cash equivalent of any remuneration in kind.

Section 21—Continuous Service.

(1) Continuity of service shall not be regarded as interrupted by mere change of ownership or management of the undertaking.

(2) Where the work is not regularly maintained throughout the year, the requirement of continuous service shall be deemed to have been met if the worker has worked for not less than two hundred days in the particular year.

Section 22—Interruption of Work by Public Holidays, Sickness of Worker.

Public holidays and absence from duty due to sickness certified by a medical practitioner, and pregnancy and confinement, shall not affect the annual leave entitlement of a worker.

Section 23—Interruption of Work by Voluntary Communal Work, Civic Duties and Special Leave.

A period during which a worker is absent from his or her normal duties with the permission of the employer on account of the worker’s participation in voluntary communal work, the discharge of civic duties or the granting of special leave with or without pay, shall not be counted as part of the worker’s annual leave.

Section 24—Sick Leave not Part of Annual Leave.

A period of absence from work allowed owing to sickness, which is certified by a medical practitioner, and which occurs after the commencement of and during annual leave shall not be computed as part of the leave.

Section 25—Leave to be Uninterrupted.

(1) Every worker is entitled to enjoy an unbroken period of leave but an employer, in cases of urgent necessity, may in accordance with this section, require a worker to interrupt his or her leave and return to work.

(2) Where a worker is required by the employer to interrupt his or her leave in the circumstances specified in subsection (1) the worker shall not forfeit the right to the remainder of the leave but shall take the leave anytime thereafter.

(3) Where a worker takes his or her annual leave at the end of a calendar year, the leave may continue except as provided in sub-section (1) without interruption, into the following year.

Section 26—Employer to bear Cost of Leave Interruption.

Any employer who requires a worker to interrupt his or her annual leave in the circumstances stated in section 25, shall make up to the worker any reasonable expense incurred on account of the interruption, and also resumption of the leave by the worker.

Section 27—Record of Employment, Leave.

(1) A worker shall, as much as may be possible, be given notice of the date of commencement of his or her annual leave, at least, thirty days before the worker takes the leave.

(2) Every employer is required to keep a record showing the following particulars,

(a) the date of employment of each worker employed by the employer and the duration of the annual leave to which the worker is entitled;

(b) the dates on which the annual leave is taken by each worker; and

(c) the remuneration received by each worker in respect of the annual leave.

Section 28—Worker May Take Leave in Two Equal Parts.

Without prejudice to the provisions of this Sub-Part, a worker may be permitted to take his or her annual leave in two approximate equal parts.

Section 29—Leave Entitlement to be Restored to Where a worker, suspended from the service of his or her employer prior to disciplinary or criminal proceedings being taken against him or her is reinstated, the worker shall be entitled to take the leave he or she would have had if he or she had not been suspended.

Section 30—Termination of Employment not to Affect Leave Entitlement Earned.

(1) Where the employment of a worker is terminated, the worker is entitled to annual leave in proportion to the period of service in the calendar year.

(2) The worker shall not be deprived of any other grants or awards to which the worker is entitled including payment in lieu of notice of termination.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to cases where the employer has the right to dismiss a worker without notice.

Section 31—Agreement to Forgo Leave to be Void.

Any agreement to relinquish the entitlement to annual leave or to forgo such leave is void

Currently, there are fourteen (14) celebrated public holidays and one (1) commemorative in Ghana in the year 2026 to equal a total of fifteen (15). The usual practice is that public holidays that fall on either Saturday or Sunday are celebrated in the first working day of the week.

Further amendments now direct that public holidays that fall on Mondays would be celebrated and observed nationwide but those that fall on Tuesday to Thursday as, midweek public holidays, will be shifted to Friday as public holidays to boost and create balance in productivity.

Note that months with thirty (30) and thirty one (31) days remain the same every year except the month of February which changes as leap year or not. To determine a leap year, divide the year by 4 if the result is a whole number like 2024. But if the result is not a whole number like 2025, it is not a leap year. Therefore, a leap year occurs every four (4) years to compensate for loss of days in the calendar month of February. Leap years have 366 days instead of the usual 365 days.

Leap days keep our calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolutions around the Sun. It takes Earth approximately 365.242189 days or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds to circle once around the sun. This is called a tropical year and starts on the March equinox; the three days on 19^th, 20^th and 21^st in which the sun crosses the equator from the south to North. In Accra, Ghana the local time for the March equinox is on Friday 20^th March, 2026, 9:46 pm GMT, and September equinox on Wednesday 22^nd September, 2026, 00:06 am GMT.

The Equinoxes and the seasons: The March and September equinoxes mark the beginning of the spring and autumn seasons on earth according to one definition. The equinox in March is the start of the spring season in Northern hemisphere and the beginning of the fall south of the equator. The March and September equinoxes almost have equal number of day and night hours in the northern and southern hemispheres and varies as the months of the equinoxes expire and other months take their positions in the calendar years. This is accompanied with unbalanced length of days and nights; shorter days and longer nights in one hemisphere and longer days and shorter nights in another hemisphere. This is why certain countries record more hours of sunlight to make sunset after 6pm with its corresponding early sunset and more night hours in place of day hours. This explains why the times and seasons vary and differ at countries in Northern and southern hemispheres.

EQUINOXES TABLE: 2019 – 2029

UT date and time of equinoxes and solstices on Earth

Event	Equinox		Solstice		Equinox		Solstice
Month	March		June		September		December
Year	Day	Time	Day	Time	Day	Time	Day	Time
2019	20	21:58	21	15:54	23	07:50	22	04:19
2020	20	03:50	20	21:43	22	13:31	21	10:03
2021	20	09:37	21	03:32	22	19:21	21	15:59
2022	20	15:33	21	09:14	23	01:04	21	21:48
2023	20	21:25	21	14:58	23	06:50	22	03:28
2024	20	03:07	20	20:51	22	12:44	21	09:20
2025	20	09:02	21	02:42	22	18:20	21	15:03
2026	20	14:46	21	08:25	23	00:06	21	20:50
2027	20	20:25	21	14:11	23	06:02	22	02:43
2028	20	02:17	20	20:02	22	11:45	21	08:20
2029	20	08:01	21	01:48	22	17:37	21	14:14

Equinox

A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth’s equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise “due east” and set “due west”. This occurs twice each year, around 20^th March and 23^rd September.

More precisely, an equinox is traditionally defined as the time when the plane of Earth’s equator passes through the geometric center of the Sun’s disk. Equivalently, this is the moment when Earth’s rotation axis is directly perpendicular to the Sun-Earth line, tilting neither toward nor away from the Sun. In modern times, since the Moon (and to a lesser extent the planets) causes Earth’s orbit to vary slightly from a perfect ellipse, the equinox is officially defined by the Sun’s more regular ecliptic longitude rather than by its declination. The instants of the equinoxes are currently defined to be when the apparent geocentric longitude of the Sun is 0° and 180°.

The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, from aequus (equal) and nox (night). On the day of an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. Contrary to popular belief, they are not exactly equal because of the angular size of the Sun, atmospheric refraction, and the rapidly changing duration of the length of day that occurs at most latitudes around the equinoxes. Long before conceiving this equality, equatorial cultures noted the day when the Sun rises due east and sets due west, and indeed this happens on the day closest to the astronomically defined event. As a consequence, according to a properly constructed and aligned sundial, the daytime duration is 12 hours.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox is called the vernal or spring equinox while the September equinox is called the autumnal or fall equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, the reverse is true. During the year, equinoxes alternate with solstices. Leap years and other factors cause the dates of both events to vary slightly.

Hemisphere-neutral names are northward equinox for the March equinox, indicating that at that moment the solar declination is crossing the celestial equator in a northward direction, and southward equinox for the September equinox, indicating that at that moment the solar declination is crossing the celestial equator in a southward direction.

Daytime is increasing at the fastest at the vernal equinox and decreasing at the fastest at the autumnal equinox.

Source: Wikipedia