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Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister of Information, delivering the opening remarks Picture: NII MARTEY M. BOTCHWAY 
Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister of Information, delivering the opening remarks Picture: NII MARTEY M. BOTCHWAY 

National documents to be translated into local languages

The government has initiated measures to ensure that all national documents are translated into six local languages to enhance the country’s democracy. The six languages are Ewe, Ga, Twi, Nzema, Dagbani and Hausa.

The initiative is expected to solidify the all-inclusive system of governance and give meaning to the theme for the Ghana at 60 years on, which is “Mobilising for Ghana’s future.”

Speaking at the 2017 budget sensitisation workshop for information officers in Accra at the weekend, the Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the government was worried about the current practice where all public documents were published in English.

The three-day workshop is an annual event organised to help regional and district information officers to understand the budget to be able to explain it to the public.

It was organised by the Ministry of Finance in partnership with the Ministry of Information and the Information Services Department (ISD).

The officers, drawn from the 10 regions of the country, were taken through the various aspects of the budget, how the government intends to finance all its proposed development and social intervention programmes, and an overview of the fiscal history of the country.

Language as a barrier

Mr Abdul-Hamid said the Ministry of Information was in discussions with renowned language scholars as part of processes to facilitate the translations, which he said, would begin with the State of the Nation Address.

He was of the opinion that language should not prevent citizens from playing their constitutional mandate of participating in governance, hence the government’s decision to communicate in languages that the majority of Ghanaians would understand and make their necessary input.

The decision, he said, was one of the ways the government had chosen to give meaning to the theme for the country’s Diamond Jubilee celebration.

“Mobilisation must include everybody and every resource, and therefore, language barrier should not be a hindrance. It is the right of every citizen to understand what is going on in the country,” he said.

He submitted that as the government strived to enhance the literacy level in both the English and local languages, it would not allow the current language barrier to stop anyone from exercising their democratic rights or understanding of national processes.

Eschew partisanship

Mr Abdul- Hamid said the government acknowledged the role of the regional and district information officers in enhancing democracy and local governance participation.

“That is why you require capacity building to be able to pass on the information accurately to the people, particularly at the grass roots,” he said.

He described the information officers as the link between the government and the public, and urged them to eschew partisanship in the discharge of their duties in order to promote development for all irrespective of one’s political affiliation.

He appealed to them to ensure that as the liaison officers between the government and the people, they should insist on collecting feedback that would inform policy decisions to ensure that development projects corresponded with the needs of the people.

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