Over the weekend, President John Dramani Mahama took his “Resetting Ghana” thank-you tour to the Savannah Region, his home region, where he used the occasion to outline his government’s achievements and the challenges confronting the nation.
The event, attended by traditional authorities, opinion leaders and residents, also provided an opportunity for the people to present their pressing concerns to the government. Addressing the gathering, President Mahama stated that Ghana’s economy had recorded significant recovery under his administration, moving from the 11th to the 8th position in Africa within a little over a year.
According to him, inflation was easing, the exchange rate had stabilised, foreign reserves had improved and the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had expanded considerably. He disclosed that Ghana’s economy, which stood at about $80 billion when his administration assumed office, had now grown to approximately $114 billion.
The President further revealed that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to $13.9 billion, enough to cover 5.7 months of imports, while government was targeting a reserve level capable of supporting up to 15 months of imports to cushion Ghana against future external shocks.
Beyond the economic figures, however, President Mahama raised an issue of profound national importance, the persistent developmental imbalance between northern and southern Ghana. He lamented that poverty and underdevelopment in the northern sector continue to fuel rural-urban migration, placing enormous pressure on infrastructure and social services in the more economically-endowed parts of the country.
The President was right in drawing attention to this dangerous socio-economic trend. For decades, governments have spoken about balanced national development, yet the disparities remain glaring. As opportunities continue to concentrate in the south, thousands migrate from deprived communities in search of jobs and better living conditions, thereby overstretching housing, healthcare, roads and schools in urban centres.
The Chronicle believes this national conversation is timely and necessary. Ghana cannot achieve sustainable development if vast sections of the country continue to feel excluded from national progress.
However, while commending the President for raising these critical issues in his home region, The Chronicle was disappointed that the address was delivered almost entirely in English, instead of Gonja, the dominant local language of the area.
Language is more than a means of communication; it is a repository of culture, identity and historical memory and President Mahama is hundred percent aware of this. In many parts of Ghana today, children can barely speak their mother tongues fluently. This growing detachment from indigenous languages poses a serious threat to our cultural heritage.
Historically, Ghanaian leaders have often embraced local languages when addressing their own people. Former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, Prof Evans Atta Mills and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo frequently connected with communities through their mother tongues, reinforcing cultural pride and identity.
President Mahama himself has consistently projected African identity through his attire and cultural symbolism on international platforms. That is why many expected him to seize the Savannah platform to celebrate the Gonja language before his own people. Yes, we admit that English is our official language, but since the president was addressing largely Gonja speaking people, he could have explained some of his policies in the local language for better understanding.
President Mahama is not a Hausa, but because he is fluent in the language, he in most of the cases, speak this language, especially when addressing the zongo community. Unfortunately, anytime he is addressing his own people, he prefers using English to Gonja. President Rawlings became arguably the most popular politician in our recently history because he tried, in most of the cases, to communicate with the local people using the language they speak.
In so doing, he was ‘butchering’ some of the words, but the people liked it because he was promoting the local languages. President Mahama is a Gonja and could have seized the opportunity to promote the language of his own people by using the big platform that was giving to him, but that never happened.
At a time when the Ghana Library Authority has expressed concern over the gradual extinction of Ghanaian languages, national leadership must consciously promote indigenous languages. Government’s decision to encourage the use of mother tongue instruction at the lower basic level is commendable, but such policies become more powerful when reinforced by visible national examples.
As the renowned Kenyan writer NgũgĩwaThiong’o once observed: “If you know all the languages of the world, but you don’t know your mother tongue, that’s enslavement. If you know your mother tongue and all the languages of the world, that’s empowerment.”
President Mahama must lead that cultural renaissance by example.
