Indeed, All This Nonsense Must Stop, Rev Tetteh!

A few years back, a certain Rev. Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, a respected Man of God, a Ga, but rarely dressed like one, and always speaking impeccable English, threatened to march to the Jubilee House to force the then president to sign an anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law because he felt that the government was not treating the matter with the urgency he felt it deserved. This, he saw as nonsense that needed to be stopped. As the saying goes, however, when time changes, man must also learn to change his ways. So, as time eventually changed, he also changed his stance to align with those now in power who feel that the issue is no longer so urgent after all. In effect, therefore, any attempt to push for it to be passed and signed into law has become another nonsense that must stop. Sure, that makes sense but I would like to leave that topic for discussion another day.

In pursuit of this his “This nonsense must stop” campaign, however, the respected Man of God, who under normal circumstances should be preaching peace, love and harmony, has raised an issue which I think needs to be looked at again because of its potential to create needless ethnocentric tension. According to Rev. Tetteh, in a recent discussion on UTV, it is ‘not fair’ for a radio/TV station based in Accra to be speaking only Twi and no Ga, and that is another nonsense that must stop. Really? The irony and hypocrisy here is that that interview was conducted in English, not Ga, but Dr. Tetteh was very comfortable with it. As a proud Ga who wants his language to be given more prominence than is currently the case, I expected him to have insisted on speaking Ga, not English. Again, there are a number of radio/TV stations in Accra that broadcast solely in English, and not at all Ga, but Rev. Tetteh apparently doesn’t see that too as nonsense that must stop.

Surely, Rev. Tetteh is not the type of person who could be unaware of the fact that people do not invest in private commercial radio/TV stations for purposes of offering free language or culture lessons. They are in business to make profit and they earn their income from offering a platform for businesses, individuals and organisations to advertise their products. The choice of which language to broadcast in is therefore, purely a business decision. So, rather than look for scapegoats in commercial radio/TV for not promoting Ga Language and culture Rev. Tetteh would do better portraying himself as a Ga by always dressing as one and speaking the language instead of English. And in case he has forgotten, even the Christian religion he practices is not a Ga religion.

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
I was a teenager when I first heard about a world-renowned Ghanaian musician by name Guy Warren. In those days what fascinated me about him wasn’t actually the type of music he played, but rather, his name, GUY WARREN, since foreign-sounding names were quite fanciful then. It was much later, when I was living in Accra as a young man, that I got to know Guy Warren was actually a Ga. On his relocation to Ghana, he threw away his fancy foreign name and dressing, and adopted KOFI GHANABA as his name. I never saw him wear a suit or even a tie and white shirt. Rather, he was always clad in a white attire like what the Wulomei music group wears. It is something like this that Rev. Tetteh should be doing instead of expecting that the Asante woman who has just moved to Accra to start a chop bar business will be speaking Ga. Better still, he could also set up a TV or radio station anywhere in Ghana and broadcast only in Ga, and I bet him no one is going to complain about it.

A SWISS GUY AND ‘AFRICAN TASTE’

In the early 80s, and 90s, it was virtually impossible to find any tropical products, whether consumables or cosmetic, in Bern, Switzerland. It took the foresight of a young Swiss guy, by name Rene Zimmermann (popularly known as Kwadwo Rene), and his Ghanaian wife Emelia, to start a modest in-house shop where the few Africans there could go and buy items like garri, plantain or even pepper. Within a short period, that ‘Alata’-like shop-in-an-apartment had grown into “The African Taste”, and become a place where in addition to serving as a market place for African products, had also become a social centre for African immigrants. By the logic of Rev. Lawrence Tetteh, I guess that decision by a Swiss entrepreneur to trade in African foodstuffs rather in cheese, chocolates and sausages would have been seen as stupidly nonsense. But here’s the difference. Whereas Kwadwo Rene was importing African products to be sold in Switzerland, obviously with African immigrants as his target group, it is by no means the intention of the owners of Peace FM, UTV, Adom FM/TV etc., to impose the Twi language and Akan culture on Gas or other ethnic groups living on Ga lands.

POSSIBLE REPERCUSSIONS OF SUCH UNFORTUNATE COMMENTS

As peaceful a country as Ghana is, we need to be careful not to discount the potential of such unfortunate comments, especially from influential members of the society, creating disunity and disaffection among us. Already, I’ve read a Ghanaweb.com story of a non-Ga- speaking Ghanaian being denied service at a food joint simply because he does not speak Ga. Can we afford this in our country – discrimination based on the language one speaks while deceiving ourselves that we’re a united and peaceful country?

It is nobody’s fault, but it is a verifiable fact that Gas make not more than 30% of the population of Accra. And this can easily be explained by the fact that it is there that the national cake is shared, and whether by design or accident, disproportionately and unfairly distributed in their favour. With all government ministries and national headquarters of virtually all state institutions, with the added bonus of foreign missions and many multi-national investors located there, it is normal that many non-Ga Ghanaians are compelled to move to Accra, at least in their active working life. It would therefore be wrong to see these internal immigrants as having come to Accra to rob Gas of jobs meant for them. On the contrary, it is the case that many non-Ga Ghanaian investors, having been attracted by the huge market created by the above-mentioned factors, move to Accra to establish businesses there and thereby creating more jobs there than the Gas themselves. And surely, as and when they come, their least worry is the promotion or otherwise of other people’s language or culture. So, it would be most unfair for anyone to blame Twi speakers if for example, fish production declines in Accra in a particular season. I have absolutely no problem with Rev. Dr. Tetteh’s desire to see the Ga language gain more recognition and prominence in Accra. But as a respected and influential religious leader, what is expected of him is to preach peace and unity rather than creating disaffection of a section of the population against another. Such divisive comments are part of the nonsense that must stop immediately irrespective of whoever is making them.

The peace, unity and tranquility we are enjoying in Ghana should not be taken for granted because it can easily be disturbed and turned into something else. What I find most unfortunate in Rev. Tetteh’s ethnocentric comment is that he has singled out the businesses of one particular ethnic group for condemnation, and I think if really wants to be seen as a Man of God, he should retract and apologise. But since it is not the culture of Ghanaians to apologise, I am appealing to his colleague Christian leaders like the Christian Council of Ghana or the Charismatic and Pentecostal Association of Ghana to advise him to do so.

Kwame Twumasi-Fofie
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