Are You Ghanaian Enough?

We as Ghanaians ultimately are proud to be called Ghanaians since we have but one country to call home. However the question of who qualifies to be a Ghanaian needs to be explored! And it is one question that I seek to have answers for!

How do Ghanaians speak? How do Ghanaians dress? Does your name make you more Ghanaian than another? Does the way you walk tell if you are a Ghanaian or otherwise? What is the relationship between a person’s personality and his or her Ghanaian-ness? These questions have been on my mind since a friend, rather perturbed by an incident, approached me recently and wanted me to post this article to have forumers discuss the issue of a person’s Ghanaian-ness or otherwise.

For the purpose of this discussion, I would like to call my friend “Raven Esi Blankson”. Raven was fortunate to have attended one of the best schools in Ghana, where she was encouraged to learn and speak the Queen’s English. As a result, she speaks very well and would hardly be heard speaking the so-called “Ghanaian” English. She has a quiet but bold personality, and she can be said to be a confident person on first impression.

Raven, as she is affectionately called by family and friends, has a name that is obviously not very Ghanaian. For this reason she always has to indicate to strangers that she is a Ghanaian, which really infuriates her, usually after she is asked the question: “Where do you come from?” This question is usually posed when people hear her speak her rather simple but refined English. Obviously aggravated by frustration she said to me recently, “Naa, I speak English like it’s to be spoken and is that a crime in Ghana?” She explained that when she speaks Fanti sometimes, her fellow Fanti people and other Ghanaians turn to look at her, presuming that she is not Ghanaian, just by her appearance.

Raven has been thought to be South African or African-American, and the wildest she has heard was she had to be Mozambican! The question that she needs an answer to is this: What makes her more Mozambican than Ghanaian in Ghana? Is it because she wears more Western clothes than African? Besides, Mozambicans are not known to wear more Western clothes than other Africans!

Raven narrated an embarrassing situation where she received an international call at her desk from England, when the person on the other end wanted to make some inquiries about the services Raven’s organization provided to the international community. After assisting the gentleman on the other end of the line, he then sought to know where Raven hailed from! Well, that was not an unusual question to her; however, the response that she was a Ghanaian was received with what seemed like astonishment in the voice of the gentleman! Raven found this rather embarrassing and downright discourteous. Hence she asked the Englishman, “Why the surprise, sir?” The gentleman then stated that he was surprised to hear a Ghanaian speak so clearly and in control of the English language over the phone. Duh!

She found the Englishman’s comments a rather distasteful allusion to what it meant to be a Ghanaian, and wondered if the average Ghanaian wasn’t polite on the phone or didn’t speak good-enough English? Well, if that is true then we need to bow our heads in shame as a nation. We also need to look at the impact of oral English in our schools.

I’m not totally surprised in this day and age when Pidgin English seems to be the “in-language.” For Raven, who doesn’t find Pidgin English attractive, she is seen as not being “in.” However, Raven prides herself in the fact that she speaks real English. For some students in Ghana today, the pidginized version of the English language has become their first language, as indicated by Patrick G. Awuah Jr., founder and president of Ashesi University, on a morning show in Accra some time ago.

As a nation with English as its official language of instruction, it becomes horrendous and reprehensible to look through newspapers and see all kinds of grammatical errors. Presenters on English-speaking radio stations just throw around words of the English language with such impunity, without a true understanding of some of the things being uttered! We need a serious discussion on this issue to turn things around, as far as grammar is concerned.

It will do us a lot of good as a nation if we can re-brand ourselves as a hub for quality English, as it used to be in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, rather than allow our language to be adulterated by the Liberian and Nigerian versions of English. These aforementioned countries have unique forms of spoken English that make it easy to brand the nationals of both countries!

Today, you will find Ghanaians wanting to speak like others rather than be themselves. The sad part is that we don’t do it as well as the originators of those dialects. Also there is what is called the “Locally Acquired Foreign Accent (LAFA),” that is, the attempt to adopt a British or American accent without having any direct exposure to these communities. LAFA is adopted, I presume, by people (with an inferiority complex, in my opinion) for the purpose of projecting a sophisticated image, which to me is unnecessary. This is rather heartrending and self-deprecating; sometimes I think that Ghanaians have an inferiority complex that needs to be checked and a collective solution found as a people. Why can’t Ghanaians just be Ghanaians and be proud of who they are?

With the issue of names, I literally face challenges to prove my Ghanaian-ness, as my name isn’t very Ghanaian. Are we saying Kwame Asante, who was born and raised in England, is more Ghanaian than a person with the name Ronald Thompson, who was born and raised in James Town, Accra? Does your name make you more Ghanaian than another person? Is Naa Doodwa Doodo, who wears a suit to work, any less Ghanaian than Molly Wilson who wears batik clothing to work? How Ghanaian or otherwise do the clothes we wear make us? Should your Ghanaian-ness be determined by the clothes you may find comfortable? Who determines who and/or what is Ghanaian enough, and by what standards?

Is Kwakuvi Ahorlu less Ghanaian for speaking with a refined accent, as compared to Nii Kartei Quartey who speaks with a typical accent associated with his local area in Ghana? Does the tone or accent with which we speak qualify our Ghanaian-ness? Do we as Ghanaians necessarily have to speak “Ghanaian” English to be perceived as Ghanaians? Is being Ghanaian embedded in our cultures and norms or determined by an unknown standard? Is our Ghanaian-ness in our minds, hearts and attitudes?

In conclusion, this article is meant to address serious questions posed about who qualifies to be a Ghanaian or otherwise; it is not intended to be a platform for disseminating tribal vendetta!

The writer, Naa Wellington, is a concerned citizen of Ghana who can be reached at naawellington@ymail.com.