Ghanaians Don’t Read

The Director of Readwide Limited, Kwaku Ansah Asare has expressed grave concern about the general apathy of Ghanaians towards reading, a situation he observed would not augur well for the development of the nation if prudent steps were not taken to reverse the unfortunate trend.

He has therefore appealed to the media to help create a vibrant and enlightened Ghanaian society worthy to take on the future.The Director expressed these concerns during an interaction with the media at the company’s premises last Friday in Accra.According to him, attempts by the Government to promote education in the country would not yield the expected dividends if serious efforts were not made to encourage the youth, especially students, to acquire the habit of reading, an exercise that would empower them to take up the governance of this country successfully.

Ansah Asare indicated that Readwide, a book retail outfit, had over the years championed the cause of reading across the country and had partnered many stakeholders in that quest, winning many important awards in that regard, “but it has now become untenable to get all the stakeholders on board to salvage the country out of the looming danger”. He expressed regret that a number of stakeholders Readwide had contacted and whose contribution would have made a lot of impact were yet to respond to participate, but he believed with the sincere involvement of the media, a lot of the problems would be solved.

Mr Kwasi Gyan-Appenteng, a media consultant, in his contribution, noted that excessive materialism had become the bane of the Ghanaian society, to the extent that knowledge was no more regarded. He urged the media, which he described as powerful, to help reverse the trend and promote the habit of reading in the country for a successful future, entreating journalists not to be content with writing news reports alone but go a step further to write feature articles as well to encourage the reading of newspapers.

Earlier, the Public Relations Officer, Ewurama Greenslade stressed that Readwide had undertaken various activities to promote reading in the country, indicating that last year the company launched the ‘Read for Life Campaign’ which saw the formation of reading and book clubs in schools and colleges across the country. With the belief that football was gaining popularity in the country and could therefore be used as an effective tool to promote reading, Readwide, she revealed, recently hosted an international football icon, Derek Boateng to interact with selected members of the Readwide reading clubs.

“Another avenue which opens itself is music. We believe that music can also be used to promote reading and we have in collaboration with Obour produced a musical video which we will be launching soon.” She mentioned that her outfit had partnered Junior Graphic to provide a platform for children to show their creativity by participating in the ‘Prize Letter’ promotion, where book prizes among others would be awarded to the writer of the best letter. Other activities she touched on were the Readwide Reading Festival scheduled for November, this year and the Readwide Newsletter to be launched soon.

“Readwide has also sustained its sponsorship of the ‘Readwide What Do You Know’ Competition, a GTV/Unique FM brainteaser and undoubtedly the most educative radio/television programme in the country,” she emphasized. Ghanaian boxing legend Professor Barima Azumah Nelson, who graced the occasion, asked Ghanaians to reflect on their lives and take the necessary measures to break the dominating elitist cycle whereby children of the elite were always given the best education to take up the best positions which their fathers had occupied earlier.