body-container-line-1
07.05.2014 Feature Article

Ga—The Dying Tongue

Ga—The Dying Tongue
07.05.2014 LISTEN

My younger brother in Primary three, Amartey Paa-Red, returned from school recently with a rather sad face. His terminal report he brought home indicated his failure in Ghanaian language subject. He had already managed to score a number of zeroes and very low marks in Ghanaian language class exercises last term, so I wasn't surprised.

A closer look at his class exercises showed he'd been offered Akwapim-Twi, a dialect he neither speaks nor understands. Aside his abysmal performance in the subject, he tells me how he's sometimes lashed for his inability to get things right during Twi classes. There've been occasions when I've had to cheer him up for school on days the Twi class awaits.

Just before we relocated to our present residence at Ayi-Mensah, Amartey Paa-Red, had been adjudged the best student in Ga, and 2nd best pupil in his class at his former school in La. So the rhetorical question I asked, upon sober reflection was, how come Ga is not being offered in the new school my brother now attends, located in Oyarifa, right here in Accra?

Already, there've been general concerns in relation to the issue I've raised above, where some schools in Accra no longer teach Ga even though there are Ga children, or pupils, who ideally would have opted to read Ga. The seeming disregard for the language is quite worrying. I just can't fathom why some Ga children, whether intentionally or not, are gradually being deprived of the chance to learn their mother tongue in schools? What deters Ghana Education Service from making it mandatory for schools in Accra, to at least, offer Ga as a constant option for their students? Will it be kindly taken, if for instance, Asante-Twi is no longer taught in schools located in the Ashanti region but Ga or any other indigenous language?

I am aware of the reality, that there are many other individuals from other regions who now stay permanently in Accra. Promoting and further developing the languages of these other individuals in Greater Accra is laudable because after all, the peace and stability Ghana is currently enjoying have been borne through unity in diversity. This, however, shouldn't form grounds for a hegemonic agenda, where a language may be suppressed within its own home region to the advantage of different languages not indigenous to a region under view.

Today, the Ga language is effectively limited to the six core Ga townships, Gamashie, Osu, La, Teshie, Nungua and Tema. Beyond these towns, the language is barely spoken in its own traditional region.

Unfortunately, many Ga traditional rulers, supposedly custodians of the Culture, are yet to come out of the 'woods'. When no Wulomo was invited to render libation during the Independence celebration in March this year, they were quick to spend several hours on a well-known Ga-Dangbe radio station.

They lamented and lambasted government for ignoring them in the celebration. Beyond ceremonial duties such as libation rendering, during which some of these rulers are hailed, hardly do you hear from them promoting developmental projects such as cultural education of children.

To add insult to injury, some of the chiefs forsake their own language and use other local dialects when interviewed on radio stations. If people of their stature take steps such as these, why wouldn't the Ga language be treated with disdain?

Also, kinsmen sit unconcerned as the language gradually sinks. Consider a situation where two indigenes meet, speak a different dialect only to realise they are both Gas. If you don't value the treasure you have, it will be difficult for others to do so.

Today, my heart bleeds, knowing a time may come when there would be no language called Ga. A time when Gas would only be a people of the past.

In my brother's case, may I add that, it's good for him to learn other dialects, but not at the expense of his mother tongue and academic progress.”Adote Shilling Kome” and “Keji Afo Yordan” were Ga novels that redeemed me from my hitherto poor performance in class during my basic school days. Today, hardly will you find current literature in Ga.

The only way to salvage the language will be to promote Ga literature, and intensify the teaching of the language in schools. If it will be considered prudent for Ga children to learn other local Ghanaian languages, then why not their own mother tongue?

I am proudly a Ghanaian and it's with good intent and will that I have written this piece. Shalom!!

Gabriel Obodai Torgbor – Ashong
SRC - General Secretary
Ghana Institute of Journalism
[email protected]
+233 241 43 10 35

body-container-line