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PUBLIC
HOLIDAYS ACT, 2001 (ACT 601)
As amended
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS
Section
1. Public
holidays
2. Additional
holidays
3. Substituted
holidays
4. Prohibition
of business on public holidays
5. Offences and
penalties
6. Exemptions
7.
Interpretation
8. Repeals
SCHEDULE
Schedule
THE SIX
HUNDRED AND FIRST
ACT OF THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
GHANA
ENTITLED
THE PUBLIC
HOLIDAYS ACT, 2001
AN ACT to
revise the law on statutory public
holidays and to provide for
related purposes.
DATE OF ASSENT:
1st June, 2001.
BE IT ENACTED
by Parliament as follows:
Section
1—Public Holidays
A day specified
in the Schedule is hereby declared
a public holiday throughout the
Republic.
Section
2—Additional Holidays
In addition to
the public holidays provided under
section 1, the President may, in
the public interest, by executive
instrument declare any other day
to be a public holiday.
Section
3—Substituted Holidays
Where the
President is satisfied that it
would be inexpedient for a day
provided in section 1 to be
observed as a public holiday, the
President may by executive
instrument declare any other day
to be observed as a public holiday
instead of that day.
Section
4—Prohibition of Business on
Public Holidays
(1) Subject to
sections 1, 3 and 6 and subsection
(2) of this section, a person
shall not open a shop for the
purposes of selling or trading or
engage in a business on a public
holiday.
(2) Subsection
(1) does not apply to
(a) food or
grocery shops;
(b) drug or
pharmacy shops;
(c) licensed
restaurants or hotels;
(d) local
markets for sale of food or
foodstuffs;
(e) premises
licensed for sale of spirit, wine,
and beer under the Liquor
Licensing Act, 1970 (Act 331);
(f) the running
of an essential public service
specified in subsection (3) of
this section.
(3) For the
purposes of paragraph (f) of
subsection (2), "essential public
service" means any of the
following
(a) water
supply services;
(b) electricity
supply services;
(c) health and
hospital services;
(d) sanitary
services;
(e) air traffic
and civil aviation control
services;
(f)
meteorological services;
(g) fire
services;
(h) air
transport services;
(i) supply and
distribution of fuel, petrol,
power and light;
(j)
telecommunications services;
(k) public
transport services.
Section
5—Offences and Penalties
(1) A person
who contravenes section 4 commits
an offence and is liable on
summary conviction to a fine not
exceeding 100 penalty units or to
a term of imprisonment not
exceeding three months or to both.
(2) Where an
offence under section 4 is
committed by a body of persons,
(a) in the case
of a body corporate, every
director or officer of that body
corporate shall be deemed to have
committed that offence;
(b) in the case
of a partnership or firm, every
partner of the partnership or firm
shall be deemed to have committed
that offence.
(3) A person
shall not be convicted of an
offence under subsection (2) if it
is proved that the act which
constitutes the offence was
committed by some other person
without the consent or connivance
of that person and that due
diligence was exercised to prevent
the commission of that act having
regard to all the circumstances.
Section
6—Exemptions
Where the
President is satisfied that it is
in the public interest to do so,
the President may by executive
instrument exempt a class of
business or a particular business
from section 4(1).
Section
7—Interpretation
For the
purposes of the Act, "shop"
includes a store or any premises
for the sale of goods.
Section
8—Repeals
The Public
Holidays Law, 1989, (P.N.D.C.L.
220) as amended by the Public
Holidays (Schedule Amendment) Law
1992, (P.N.D.C.L. 274) and Public
Holidays (Amendment) Act, 1995
(Act 507) is hereby repealed.
SCHEDULE
New Year's Day
(1st January)
Independence
Day (6th March)
Good Friday
Easter Monday
Eid-al Adha
Festival (Hajj)
Eid-al Fitr
(Ramadan)
Worker's Day
(1st May)
Africa Day
(25th May)[As inserted by the
Public Holidays (Amendment) Act,
2002 (Act 626), s.1]
Republic Day
(1st July)
Farmers Day
(1st Friday in December)
Christmas Day
(25th December)
Boxing Day
(26th December)
Date of Gazette
Notification: 1st June, 2001.
amended by
THE PUBLIC
HOLIDAYS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2002
(ACT 626).1
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