Mustapha Hamid, Information Minister
Government has hinted of a move to translate new government policies and issues of national concern into seven local languages.
Information Minister Mustapha Hamid said this at the opening of a two-day budget workshop for information officers in Accra.
Regional and district information officers were drown from all the 10 regions to take part in the workshop.
Mr Hamid stated that democracy was not only for the educated as this move was to help locals appreciate government policies and programmes.
“It is not acceptable that only people who read and understand English are part of our governance processes. So from now on whatever national document that we have for you to disseminate to our citizens and educate them about, we shall translate them into the six major languages that are spoken on national radio in Ghana, and I mean Ewe, Ga, Twi, Nzema, Dagbani, and Hausa,” he stated.
“Now I accept the Dagaare suggestion, so I will add Dagaare because yes, I realise that the six languages cover the entire part of Ghana except the Upper West. So we will add Dagaare to ensure, therefore, that all our citizens who live in every part of our country at any point in time are informed of what is going on in our country so that they can participate, otherwise the constitution becomes non-functional, it becomes non-relevant to the lives of people. So, to make our national constitution, alive to what it ought to be, every citizen who lives in Ghana must understand what goes on and we are going to make sure that henceforth that is what it is.”
