Institute holiday to celebrate ancestors — Traditionalists urge gov’t

A legal storm is brewing over Ghana’s cultural identity.

Nana Obiri Boahen, a prominent legal practitioner, has vowed to sue the state if a national holiday is not instituted to celebrate the ancestors of the respective traditions in the country.

He insists that the omission is discriminatory, since Christians and Muslims enjoy public holidays while traditional worshippers are denied equal recognition.

“If Parliament will not take the matter up, I will be tempted to go to court,” he declared, stressing that the constitution itself upholds Ghana’s traditions and culture.

Nana Boahen made the call at a spirited programme organised by the National Association of Traditionalists and Ancestral Venerators (NATAV).

He lamented that repeated petitions for a national day have gone unanswered, though he expressed hope that the demand will eventually be met.

The programme was on the theme: “Reclaiming Our Ancestral Foundations through a Public Day: Our Heroes, Identity, Unity and the Future of Ghana.”

Painting a vivid contrast between Ghana’s neglect of its own traditions and the reverence shown abroad, Nana Obiri Boahen cited examples of Ghanaians travelling to Jerusalem to pray at a wall while ignoring pilgrimages to Pusigah, the seat of Naa Gbewa.

He also highlighted what he described as the erasure of cultural memory—students in Ahanta unaware of Badu Bonsu, who was beheaded by the Dutch and whose skull was returned in 2009; names like Obuor being discarded for ‘Peter’ at baptism; and the foundational role of Komfo Anokye in the rise of Asanteman.

He insisted that ancestral worship is not merely ritual but a reclamation of identity and dignity long eroded by colonial influence.

“Black people have become victims of atrocities and centuries of systemic brainwashing, but now we have realised the narratives were wrong,” Nana Yaw WI said, explaining that such gatherings are meant to awaken consciousness.

Shekhem Enen Tehuti Men Ab Bonsu, leader of the Ghana branch of the Ausar Auset Society, urged Africans to study traditional religion, insisting that “the power of the black man lies in the religion,” and stressed the importance of honouring the ancestors.

He argued that European systems discouraged such practices precisely because of their potency.

Baffour Asabere Kogyawoasu Ababio III, High Priest at Manhyia Palace and Patron of NATAV, echoed the call, urging Ghanaians to honour those who laid the foundations of civilisation.

Some of the advocates noted that the matter is not just cultural but constitutional, and that the threat of legal action by Nana Obiri Boahen could inject urgency into a debate that blends law, tradition, and identity.

They observed that if Parliament continues to delay, the courts may soon be asked to decide whether ancestral worship deserves its own day on Ghana’s national calendar.

FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI