KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Do we have a national language?
The Acheampong administration, in its early days, organised a meeting at the present Parliament House to discuss a national development plan. Three participants raised the question of language as vital to national identity and national interest, the raison d’être of a development plan.
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They argued eloquently for the adoption of a national language. I knew at once it was an organised intervention. I felt it my duty to support that immediate action on a national plan.
I was sympathetic to Acheampong’s economic self-reliance stance and his then admirable leadership role. He had called me and persuaded me to transfer to the Ministry of Trade and Industry as Deputy Secretary to the ruling Council to assist his financial guru, Dr Donkor Fordwo, and Dr Amon Nikoi, governor of the Bank of Ghana, to maintain his refusal to pay debts and promote the policy of self-reliance.
I felt at the meeting that General Acheampong knew and approved of the national language plan but I had to oppose the suggestion to avoid long unfruitful discussions which might affect enthusiasm for a national plan.
I, therefore, welcomed the idea of a national language but reminded the meeting of the divisive nature of the imposition of a common language. I cited cases in other countries and cautioned going the Belgium way.
There, I said, the King divided public addresses mathematically into two. He spoke in French and then completed the other half in Flemish. Even political parties were on linguistic lines.
I proposed that the local language and another might be taught in all schools. The second language would naturally be the most common and useful one. I added teasingly that it would be Twi but not the various illiterate dialects then in vogue but Akuapim Twi whose grammar had been developed by Akrofi and which was offered for the Cambridge School Certificate when I was at school.
The idea of studying the local language and another was accepted. But it was never faithfully applied. The result today is that some are unhappy with the neglect of their language and a rift between different language groups is developing.
The matter is made worse by a large number of the country’s population moving to Accra over a short period of time and a deterioration in the standard of education. Most Ghanaians cannot express themselves in English, the official language, and their command of the mother tongue is often pathetic.
Ghanaians should realise that they have an official language, which is English. It is an attractive bequest of colonialism. It is a major international language which opens access to science and technology and enables us to communicate in the international arena.
Standards of English are falling faster than the cedi and many of those interviewed on television on matters of national interest can only express themselves in the mother tongue.
And because educational standards are falling, they cannot express themselves well even in the native tongue. After all, speaking gives expression to what one thinks. And if thinking is not organised and cohesive, it cannot produce coherent language. We have to improve the educational system so that students who leave even the Junior High School can speak both the local language and English well.
In this regard it is most important that news items in the media be well-written and well-spoken. Education is not only for schools and colleges. The media should help. At present, news reading on both radio and television is generally not good.
Sometimes this is due to bad scripts. The news bulletins should be well-written and those reading it should have read it before going on air and should understand what they read.
The influence of the media on language is great. At school, we were encouraged to listen to the BBC even though many of our masters at Achimota were English. Some reporters like Napoleon Ato Kittoe are very good but too many television presenters, especially, do not speak the English I easily understand.
They pause where they should not, and the affectation is ridiculous. I had hoped that Komla Dumor would come home now and again to train our newscasters. Even as Komla Dumor spoke English so well, you knew he was Ghanaian and not English. He did not put on the pathetic ‘locally acquired foreign accent’.
Reading competitions at school helped to promote mastery of English at my time in school and it should be revived. The Jiagges, Al Hassans, François and young Frances Quarshie-Idun were spoken-English role models. Today when I see old Prof. E.A. Badoe, I instinctively recall John Masefield’s ‘Quinquereme of Nineveh from distant Ophir rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine in the mad March days’.
Dr. Badoe’s rendering of the ‘cargoes’ by the poet Laurette at the reading competition in 1941 was superb. What was done to improve our English in 1941 can be done today. This is an area where we can get British support through their news readers. Good understanding and reading of the official language is more important than begging for help to balance our budget!
Self-respect is as important as self-gratification. Our leaders are not taken seriously if they have no good command of the official language. Misunderstanding of the English language leads to serious consequences. If we go deeply into many current issues such as paying for goods we have not bought and judgement debts we will find that the root causes are laziness, indiscipline and lack of mastery of the official language English.
Until we have a national language we should master the official language. There should be television programmes and news in the local languages but news on radio and television concerning national programmes should be in English and those who cannot speak English should be encouraged to do so by not fully entertaining them on national programmes.
Meanwhile, the education system should help us to master the official language and to think and express ourselves eloquently in the mother tongue. Language should unite us and not divide us into ethnic mental enclaves.
