Ewe Newspaper launched

Mr. C. K Dewornu, Former Inspector-General of Police, on Thursday advocated the teaching of Ewe language in Sunday schools in the Volta Region as an effort to rejuvenate the language, which according to him, is gradually sinking into oblivion.

"No one person or organisation or even a government can be accused of being the cause of the current low image of the Ewe language," he said. "Rather, all speakers of the language are in different ways crucifying the language." Mr Dewornu, who was launching "Midim", an Ewe Newspaper in Accra, warned that if nothing is done to "resurrect" the language, it could be buried at any time. The Newspaper, "Midim ne miase nyatepe la" literally meaning "Search for me to hear the truth", is a monthly publication edited by Rev. Peter W. D. Nutornutsi of the Apostles Revelation Society.

The 12-paged Newspaper, which has a symbol of a torchbearer as its logo, would be sold in Ghana as well as Togo, Benin, Germany and United States. Mr Dewornu blamed parents of Ewe origin for the fall of the language saying, "they are the notorious culprits, who under the pretext of displaying status symbol, refuse to speak Ewe to their children and sometimes to members of their household."

"Another pathetic issue is the gradual extinction of the language in the Volta Region. At places like Ho, Aflao and Hohoe, other Ghanaian languages are creeping into the communities to dwarf the Ewe language. This is a big threat to the future existence of the language," he noted.