Gov’t declares Friday, May 1st as public holiday

• Government has declared May 1, 2026, a public holiday in Ghana to mark Workers’ Day.

• National celebrations will be held in Koforidua under a theme focused on jobs and growth.

• The day remains a paid, non-working holiday under Ghana’s labour laws.

The Government of Ghana has declared Friday, May 1, 2026, as a statutory public holiday to mark Workers’ Day (May Day).

In a brief statement dated April 27, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, Minister for the Interior, directed that the day be observed as a public holiday throughout the country.

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This year’s May Day celebration is themed “Pivoting to Growth, Jobs and Sustainable Livelihoods Beyond Macroeconomic Stability.”

The theme reflects organised labour’s position that fiscal consolidation must now give way to a growth and employment agenda.

The 2026 May Day celebration is scheduled to take place in the Eastern Region, with the main event to be held at Jackson's Park in Koforidua.

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Ghanaian workers observed their first May Day in 1960, when the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was declared the “First Number One Worker” and honoured with a May Day Award by the Trades Union Congress.

The celebration was suspended in 1966 following the first military coup that toppled his government, before resuming in 1967.

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Under Ghana’s Holiday Act of 2001 and the Labour Act of 2003, public holidays are recognised as paid, non-working days nationwide.

Employers who require staff to work on such days are mandated to provide a substitute paid day off.