Ethnicity may be slowly guiding this country into ethnic conflicts and it is about time that we all collectively stand up and resolve this issue. Asantes who seem to always be at the receiving end, used to ignore any tribal attacks on them, until now.
These days, the Asante youths have decided to return more than the measure they receive, as we see with their relationship with Dormahene, Osagyefo Agyeman Badu.
When the Ga Traditional Council took the decision to replace Akwaaba with Oobakԑ, suddenly some Gas took Asantes to the cleaners. This was unwarranted for.
But what is the problem? Akwaaba is the Akan word for welcome which is known by any Ghanaian, irrespective of his or her ethnicity. It is a word also known worldwide, with some musicians composing songs with it. So, Akwaaba should be seen as an icon that sells Ghana internationally and must be revered, as such.
But unfortunately, some Gas are not in favour of Asantes, taking their lands and language. And even though it was not an Asante, but the Nzema Kwame Nkrumah, who decreed that Akwaaba should be put at entrances of state and public edifices, the Asantes are being blamed for it.
During an exchange of opinions on this matter on Facebook, a beautiful Ga lady in summary had this to say: “For once we are fighting for our place in modern history. Why is that so hard for others? Considering how accommodating we have been throughout past history?”
To me this lady, speaking on behalf of Gas, is talking more about the Ga identity, and Ga language is what identifies the people.
In Ghana, it is estimated that there are more than 80 local languages, with the top ten being Twi (spoken by 85% of the population), Ewe, Ga, Dagbani, Dangme, Gonja, Nzema, Dagaare, Kasem, and Frafra. Hausa which is not a local Ghanaian dialect is the second language spoken in the North.
There are also the Guans who form 3.7% of the population. Unfortunately, even though the Guans are located across many regions of Ghana, they do not speak one dialect. If they spoke one tongue, their language could rate second or third. So, as it is even though he is a Guan, H.E. John Dramani Mahama cannot communicate with Hon Obed Asamoah in his Guan dialect, though both of them are Guans.
The Gas have course to worry, because the minute the last word of Ga is spoken, Ga is lost. However, their approach to finding a solution is all wrong. No one is preventing Ga from being spoken, except the Gas themselves. On their land, they form a minority with Akans and Ewes dominating. These two ethnic groups travel everywhere with their languages and so they speak it openly on Ga lands.
As their population keep increasing, Gas were compiled to learn how to speak like them so as to communicate better. Replacing Akan and Ewe words like Akwaaba and Woezor will not be the solution. The Akans in Accra will always say Akwaaba and the Ewes in Accra will always say Woezor. But until lately, even most Gas never knew the Ga word for welcome is Oobakԑ.
What the Ga traditional leaders should do as a matter of urgency, is to demand from the well-to-do Gas to open up radio and television stations to come out with majority of their programmes in Ga. The Dangmes have a private station in Somanya.
Those Gas in high places should insist that GES gets Ga teachers and this language should be taught alongside the top spoken languages in all schools, up to the JHS level. Asantes should not be blame for GES not promoting Ga in the schools, it is the Gas who should bear the blame. And who says Ga is not taught in private schools? Star International Preparatory/JHS, teaches Ga.
Notwithstanding, Ga should not be the only language to be given this privilege. At the moment it seems all local languages are on the verge of decline. The top most spoken languages and the language of the ethnicity where the schools will be located should be taught to pupils and students.
These days no paragraph of sentence will be spoken without adding some English words. And when anyone speaks like this, he or she is good to go, but should that person add a word of another local language, they would be mocked at. So, gradually English will eclipse our local languages and our identities will be lost.
In my opinion, government should set up a state institution which will gather data on all individual languages spoken in Ghana and spoken in their clear and original dialect, no mixing with other languages. Each language must have a complete dictionary of it words, how they are pronounced and their meaning.
From this data, it will be easy to go online and find out how a word is said in any language and what it means.
This data can be used to promote all the over 80 languages, so that when one is travelling to any part of the country, he or she could pick some common words spoken there as guide.
Our languages are our identity and we must protect them, but not in the way some Gas want to do by attacking Asantes for the Akan word, Akwaaba.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
