ADDRESSING THE HANNAH BISSIWS WITH THEIR TITLES IS A TRIVIALITY!!

I felt like someone engulfed in a pool of shock and surprises on hearing Hannah Bissiw [i.e. Deputy Minister for Works & Housing] say that she would not allow Kweku Kwarteng [i.e. NPP's Communication Director] to make his submission on a Television [Metro TV] discussion just because Kweku had refused to address her as a Doctor or Honorable and also Atta-Mills as his Excellency or President.

I was shocked because I have heard Atta-Mills on several occasions say that he is cool with it when we just call him Atta-Mills and in fact it ought to be so for everyone regardless of your status in your society. Hence I was perplexed to hear an Atta-Mills' appointee having a skirmish with someone over the usage of titles. Well, titles are just unique names that are normally added to our original names in our quest to modify or describe someone in a particular way. With this kind of explanation of what titles are; I wonder why anyone would want to start the third world war just because someone has refused to address him or her with a title.

Come to think of it, of what essence is a title when its relevance cannot be translated into deeds that would be visible for all to see without a blink. For instance what will happen if I refuse to address people as Prof.This; Dr.That; Mr.This or Mrs.That thus would their qualifications be taken away from them or would it reduce their influence in their area of study or it would reduce their reputation and respect in their society? No wonder assembly-men in Ghana want to be addressed as Honorables. And as for the “Men of God” the least said about them the better thus you enter most churches today and all you hear is “Archbishop-This” or “Presiding Bishop-That” but it is very insulting to know that most of these titles are self imposed.

Indeed I won't be surprised at all to see people calling themselves “Citizen-This or Patriot-That”: it may sound gibberish but people would do it very soon looking at the way some people fancy titles with all the enthusiasm left in them especially in this part of our world. In Ghana for instance people are sometimes addressed in a weird manner such as “Uncle-Nana Kwame”; “Auntie-Maame Serwaa”; “ Bra-Paa Kwasi”; “Sista-Ohemaa Mercy” and although all these names already have titles synchronized to them, we end up adding another title to them in our desirable quest to address people by one title or another.

However I think that there is no correlation between the titles with which people address you and how they respect you. But if there is any correlation then I would be very grateful if someone would draw it for me because I never seen one. For instance in the U.S most Americans refer to Obama as Obama and that doesn't make him less powerful as a President so to me it is piffling for a minister of state to be involved in any form of skirmish in her quest to get herself addressed with a title.

Although I believe in academic qualifications if we don't stop this colonial attitude of the compulsory usage of titles; it would come to a time that some people would like to be referred to as Degree-Holder-This or Graduate-That; thus we have more better things to deal with as a nation than to waste our time on the compulsory usage of titles in addressing people. As a friend of mine would put it “Ebi title we go chop” [i.e. would we eat titles or can titles be eaten].

I hereby call on all, to refrain from addressing people especially the Hannah Bissiws with their titles because it is just a way of glorifying and abusing triviality. Anyway, if I ever get the chance to meet Hannah Bissiw or Atta-Mills; I would address them with no titles and if Hannah still has a problem with that then I will be more than willing to give her a majestic red carpet treatment as I direct her to the gates of Hell that are widely open when it comes to this issue.

Paa-Kwasi Agyapong Boateng
[email protected]
Development / Accra / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com