Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Prepare to heed forthcoming ban on noise-making

The Ga Traditional Council (GTC) has announced that this year’s ban on drumming and noise-making within the state will commence on May 6 and run till June 6, a one-month period.

The Council specifies that the ban prohibits noise-making activities, including clapping of hands and the use of tambourines and other musical instruments during the period.

Thus, churches, mosques, and pubs, for instance, are expected to refrain from the use of musical instruments, placing loudspeakers outside their premises, and carrying out open-air activities.

Roadside evangelists are also expected to cease their activities during this period.

Other open-air activities banned include funerals, as they also involve noise-making.

The Ghanaian Times joins the GTC in urging the public to observe the ban to uphold peace, harmony, and security within the Ga State.

It, therefore, appeals to religious and other traditional authorities within the Ga State to show respect by restraining their followers from making deroga­tory and inflammatory remarks about the ban.

The truth is that not all cultures and traditions of a people are bad.

This is where there is a need to seek an understanding of such practices, but not as in the case of the 12-year-old girl being married to an old man, which is a clear violation of the innocent girl’s rights.

Seeking an understanding of harmless but sometimes unclear cultural practices like the annual ban on noise-making prevents some people from trying to violate them because they do not see the essence of them.

The ban on noise-making, for instance, is observed because, in ancient times, the Gas were involved in farming and planted their seeds during the period. It was found that noise-making interfered with seed germination, so the one-month ban could help stem the interference.

It should marvel at the present generation how the ancient Gas came to that conclusion as primitive as they were thought to be.

Interestingly, research in modern times has proven that sound or noise has some impact on plant growth.

For instance, ResearchGate, a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, states that depending on the frequency and intensity of SV (structural variation) and US sounds [or noise], they can positively or negatively affect different biological functions of plants such as germination, the cell cycle, shoot, root, and callus growth and development.

Today, a greater percentage of Ga lands are built up, meaning farming is less practiced in the state, yet the ban on noise-making has some significance.

If nothing at all, it reminds everyone of the intellect of the Gas, which can be applied in farming communities today with the assistance of agricultural scientists.

Ghana is an agrarian country, and any knowledge or technology that can enhance its agricultural production must be encouraged.

The rite may appear obsolete but not harmful, and it can be observed for as long as the Ga people want to deem it worthy.

Besides, it forms part of who they are.

The Ghanaian Times will continue to support all cultural practices in the country that help it develop, even if they have just some productive lessons for the people.

In that same vein, the paper will join the condemnation of obnoxious, restrictive, outdated, and harmful ones like minors being married to paedophiles.