When Our Children Only Speak English at Home!

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• Anna 12 years ago

  We either encourage the speaking of all the Ghanaian languages;ga,ewe,fante etc or we have to speak the english language.

  We either encourage the speaking of all the Ghanaian languages;ga,ewe,fante etc or we have to speak the english language.

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• TENDAANA 12 years ago

  English rule, no biggie! me no be ass-anti

  English rule, no biggie! me no be ass-anti

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• chorkor 12 years ago

  my brother; straight to the point. well spoken!!

  my brother; straight to the point. well spoken!!

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• NANA BONSU 12 years ago

  The natives have to speak their respective languages or no one will speak it for them. If you check, the mostly threatened languages are the ones whose speakers have always prided themselves about speaking foreign languages a ...
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  The natives have to speak their respective languages or no one will speak it for them. If you check, the mostly threatened languages are the ones whose speakers have always prided themselves about speaking foreign languages at home with their kids.
  
  Charity begins at home so does killing a language.

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• Eglish Plus a Local Language Is Good 12 years ago

  English and French are spoken in Quebec, Canada even though the official language is French. We can have English and a local language and I do not see anything wrong with that;
  we had that system before and it worked. It is ...
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  English and French are spoken in Quebec, Canada even though the official language is French. We can have English and a local language and I do not see anything wrong with that;
  we had that system before and it worked. It is the politicians who changed that system. Hold them responsible!

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• FORi 12 years ago

  Well said

  Well said

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• Tijani 12 years ago

  What is good about the article, have you noticed the grammar and spelling mistakes on the article.

  What is good about the article, have you noticed the grammar and spelling mistakes on the article.

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• Mame Amma 12 years ago

  This starts with most people in Ghana. As I regularly travel to Ghana, this is what I have found. Try speaking any of the dialects and the reponse will be given in English. When I comment on this,it is ignored as though I hav ...
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  This starts with most people in Ghana. As I regularly travel to Ghana, this is what I have found. Try speaking any of the dialects and the reponse will be given in English. When I comment on this,it is ignored as though I have not been heard.
  There is too much competition in Ghana that everyone wants to show they can speak English better then the Queen. The in-thing is twedder instead of tweeter. Most Asian kids can speak their mother tongue!!! Abey oo Ghanafuo ya bre mu.

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• Nana Kwadwo, U.S.A 12 years ago

  Dominic, before I say anything, let me give credit to the Spanish and the Asians and thanks for this topic. You will never hear them talking to their children in English. I was talking to two kids of a friend of mine and they ...
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  Dominic, before I say anything, let me give credit to the Spanish and the Asians and thanks for this topic. You will never hear them talking to their children in English. I was talking to two kids of a friend of mine and they were looking at me like a fool and the mother felt proud to tell me that, the kids don't understand the Twi language but they are born to Ghanaian parents. I wish you were there to listen to the mother speaking to them.

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• nig 12 years ago

  Yes.

  Yes.

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• MIKEY 12 years ago

  This is the most sensible article hat I have read in along time on Ghanaweb. Thank you Dominic.

  This is the most sensible article hat I have read in along time on Ghanaweb. Thank you Dominic.

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• Odeifuo Kwesi Darkwa 12 years ago

  I remember Spio Garbrah once admonishing that its very important to give our kids some native language experience , even to the extent of allowing the kids in their formative years to visit Ghana for summer school, its possib ...
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  I remember Spio Garbrah once admonishing that its very important to give our kids some native language experience , even to the extent of allowing the kids in their formative years to visit Ghana for summer school, its possible.
  
  Thus this gives them a good sense of identity and proper confidence,good manners and a connection to native Ghana. I have done that and the results are wonderful, the kids speak three Ghanaian languages already Twi, Ga and understand Ewe plus their English. Their manners is just awesome.
  Its a common sight with the Asians & continental Europe, but as for Africans our complex are plenty.

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• Asiwome 12 years ago

  We must make multiculturalism a reality by organising language lessons for our children. This provides avenues for teaching them about culture.

  We must make multiculturalism a reality by organising language lessons for our children. This provides avenues for teaching them about culture.

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• we need to use our local langu 12 years ago

  thank u sir

  thank u sir

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• ob 12 years ago

  NO COUNTRY CAN DEVELOPE WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGE ,B,COS LANGUAGE IS CULTURE,IS ABOUT THE FOOD ,THE CUSTOM,EVERYTHING.THUS WHY THE ASINS ARE DEVELOPING,FROM INDONESIA,INDIA,SRI LANKA,AND MANY MORE.

  NO COUNTRY CAN DEVELOPE WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGE ,B,COS LANGUAGE IS CULTURE,IS ABOUT THE FOOD ,THE CUSTOM,EVERYTHING.THUS WHY THE ASINS ARE DEVELOPING,FROM INDONESIA,INDIA,SRI LANKA,AND MANY MORE.

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• NON-ALIGNED 12 years ago

  ob....I must say you have hit the nail right on the head...kudos to you. And if I may...
  We Africans, especially Ghanaians seem to attach the speaking of the English language to be education. So therefore, speakin ...
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  ob....I must say you have hit the nail right on the head...kudos to you. And if I may...
  We Africans, especially Ghanaians seem to attach the speaking of the English language to be education. So therefore, speaking any other language other than English makes you an illiterate. What a shame!
  In my opinion, education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next.. or even the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others......
  But most importantly also a means of helping people to learn how to do things and encouraging them to think for themselves.
  
  However, we don't seem to do any of that and just embark on a language alien to our own culture and put our children through pointless exercise to speak English at all cost. And in the end grow up to either become useless 'vessels' in our society or become just some 'educated illiterates and churn out all that rubbish we see and experience in our present day society.
  
  Why don't we look back historically and research and asked ourselves how the first university in the world, located in Timbuktu - Mali managed to educate people who were from all nations (with several different dialects) and become GREAT in those days????????
  
  And also how the Indians, the Malaysians are doing well for themselves etc.
  
  We need to start to challenge our minds and find OUR OWN critical path to develop in our own way. And STOP thinking that by so-called educating our children by means of speaking English will make us develop. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!! The colonialists' education system is the bane to our own development.
  
  Too many ignore our good heritage and cultural values and strive for things that are not compatible or sympathetic to our historical past...if you don't know where you are coming from, then you will never know where you are going.
  
  GOD BLESS GHANA!
  AFRICAN FOREVER!

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• LovelyMe 12 years ago

  Its all clear that some elements just want to kill all other Ghanaian languages so they can impose Akan on us.Some of us are watching and are ready to fire the first bullet to defend our mother tongue and to resist the imposi ...
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  Its all clear that some elements just want to kill all other Ghanaian languages so they can impose Akan on us.Some of us are watching and are ready to fire the first bullet to defend our mother tongue and to resist the imposition of Akan or any other local language on us.

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• The thinker. 12 years ago

  In what way is your comment related to the content of the above article?

  In what way is your comment related to the content of the above article?

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• Stanley 12 years ago

  Another deranged fool

  Another deranged fool

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• Baba Tunde 12 years ago

  The writer mentions that we forbid our kids from embracing their identity, but do Ghanaians embrace other Ghanaian ethnicities? The response is in the negative especially where the Twi dialect is concerned. Akans generally ca ...
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  The writer mentions that we forbid our kids from embracing their identity, but do Ghanaians embrace other Ghanaian ethnicities? The response is in the negative especially where the Twi dialect is concerned. Akans generally cannot comprehend the idea of a Ghanaian not being able to speak Twi. They will go as far as to even questioning your nationality.
  Commercials and advertisements in Twi is pure ignorance and recipe for ethnic clashes.

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• NANA BONSU 12 years ago

  "recipe for ethnic clashes: Ashantis fight among themselves, the Dagombas, Konkomba, Gas, Ewes and a lot more do the same. I would worry more about religion getting into the mix.

  "recipe for ethnic clashes: Ashantis fight among themselves, the Dagombas, Konkomba, Gas, Ewes and a lot more do the same. I would worry more about religion getting into the mix.

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• NANA BONSU 12 years ago

  Nobody is forced to speak "Akan" in Ghana. It is not a compulsory subject in schools. I can understand where you are coming from but history presents the fact that at certain points in a peoples history, a language dominates ...
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  Nobody is forced to speak "Akan" in Ghana. It is not a compulsory subject in schools. I can understand where you are coming from but history presents the fact that at certain points in a peoples history, a language dominates for a while only to be knocked off by another or merge with several others to form a lingua franca like swahili. That evolution has started in Ghana, Twi and broken pidgin English are merging. Sooner or later a confirmed merger would happen. So many young people speak horrible Twi, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani if you care to ask elderly speakers. The only advantage Twi has garnered is, it is becoming the dominant language of commerce that is all and it is not going to change soon.When about 70percent of media commercials from stations owned by non-Akans are in Twi dont blame Twi speakers the investors need the returns on their investments.

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• Pelicles 12 years ago

  My niece is currently attending SHS in the Greater Accra region and according to her, she is learning the Ga language together with her Akuapim tongue. That is what the government had implemented. If you are from the South a ...
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  My niece is currently attending SHS in the Greater Accra region and according to her, she is learning the Ga language together with her Akuapim tongue. That is what the government had implemented. If you are from the South and attending school in the North, you are required by law to learn any one language from the North plus that of your tongue.
  
  No one is forcing "Akan language" on anyone but as long as the Akans are the majority, that language always have advantage over the others. Think about "Commerce".

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• Kwadwo Mante 12 years ago

  Can you imagine an English man, born in England, being named Mensah? The idiot would be considered mentally ill & incarcerated in a mental institution for life!
  
  We have no names, not even a god! Had to borrow one or stupid ...
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  Can you imagine an English man, born in England, being named Mensah? The idiot would be considered mentally ill & incarcerated in a mental institution for life!
  
  We have no names, not even a god! Had to borrow one or stupidly defend an angry, jealous, pseudo-mythical monster that had been imposed on us.

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• The thinker. 12 years ago

  Should significant deficiency in native language competency be the exchange rate for English language acquisition? That's the question the writer wants us to discuss. So stop acting like an illiterate here.

  Should significant deficiency in native language competency be the exchange rate for English language acquisition? That's the question the writer wants us to discuss. So stop acting like an illiterate here.

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• NANA BONSU 12 years ago

  I started my primary education in a small town in the Eastern Province (Easter Region) before Nkrumah came up with the 8 regions.
  
  I had a kid in my class called Adu Kwame whose daddy refused to give him an "Christian/Engl ...
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  I started my primary education in a small town in the Eastern Province (Easter Region) before Nkrumah came up with the 8 regions.
  
  I had a kid in my class called Adu Kwame whose daddy refused to give him an "Christian/English" name. He was asked to go home a few times to get an Christian/English" from his parents. His dad, a hunter by profession, infuriated by the demands, stopped by the school on his way to the bush fully armed with his "dane" gun and in camouflage quitely but firmly informed our terrified teacher that he will not add to or change his kids name until the British start adopting African names too.
  
  It was funny then but the full import hit me a few years latter: That is what pride is all about. The Black Power movement started in Nkrumah's Ghana!!!!!!!!!!!!

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• ghanaian 12 years ago

  parents should take this serious as we are loosing al our identity and values. Ministry of Education should take it up.

  parents should take this serious as we are loosing al our identity and values. Ministry of Education should take it up.

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• Vuvuzela 12 years ago

  Pertinent, but the cause is lost! As with so many things in Ghana, it is way too late. There is no chance for development of national languages, now that technology wades itself into the fray, much heavier that you could unde ...
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  Pertinent, but the cause is lost! As with so many things in Ghana, it is way too late. There is no chance for development of national languages, now that technology wades itself into the fray, much heavier that you could understand. Try thinking of “Electroencephalogram”, “Radio Direction and Ranging,”, internet protocols like hypertext markup language etc., and you’d understand.
  
  The problems started with the lack of interest in developing national languages when clearly Cape Coast could have done more. As I have always pointed out, it is a matter of “age-old” mentality and laziness – a recipe at the base of the lack of ideas concerning development issues in Ghana. With this tendency of rapid technological advancement prevalent in the world now, it is only fair to understand that the development of local languages can never catch up with others, though they could do well to enrich the tradition in Ghana.
  
  On the bad usage of the English language, the problem lies on the door steps of the government. We learn English in schools as second language. Teachers are not performing because of the way the way they’re regarded, and frankly, it is regrettable, but it is going to be for a long time to come, for as long as we think those in parliament who do nothing but exchange insults, deserve higher pay than teachers “whose rewards are in heaven”. So you read through Ghanaweb, Joynews, GNA, Daily Graphic, I would say all the print media and radio houses and you want to laugh to tears as all of them fail miserably in English usage. But, Oh, this is Ghana. Interesting, isn’t it?
  
  By the way, Leopold Sedar Senghor was a spurious flag-bearer of the French language. He wrote poems only in French. When he left power he came back to Senegal ONLY in the form of a corpse – dead. The Senegal youth was furious and said they didn’t know him. Senghor appeared to be a nationalist, he wasn’t, in event.

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• Kofi 12 years ago

  A people without a language have no identity and a people without an ancestral land have no security.
  People without a language have no identity when it comes grouping people. Yes they are there and can be identified by some ...
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  A people without a language have no identity and a people without an ancestral land have no security.
  People without a language have no identity when it comes grouping people. Yes they are there and can be identified by something else. However language is a very strong and important factor in human groupings. From the language comes culture, and culture gives meaning to society.
  Language determines the roots and the geographiacal area where one can stay and be absolutely secure.
  When our fore fathers and mothers were sold into slavery they lost their native languages. This is because they were scattered and had no contact with fellow tribe members. Today the the first point of identity for their descendants is colour. They also appear not to be secure as the descendants of their masters who set them free.
  The Jews are the typical example when it comes to ancestral land and security. They were scattered over Europe and faced a lot of insecurities especially at the hands of Nazi Germany until the State of Israel was established.
  Many are not taking it serious to pass on the native language to their children. It is only in the future that they will discover that their children have become a lost generation. It will be too late at that time.
  In this fast world it is necessary that parents actively get engaged in teaching their local language. If it is a mixed marriage the idea of a mother tongue should be a guide for the mother to be responsible. The first four years is very crucial. Nursery teachers should not insist on the English language when it ccomes nursery admissions

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• princewilly@ymail.com 12 years ago

  One day a Ghanaian man went to a restaurant in Sweden and wanted two pieces of toast, and the waiter gives him one, and the Ghanaian man says "I want two piece" The waiter said "go to the toilet" The Man says "You no understa ...
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  One day a Ghanaian man went to a restaurant in Sweden and wanted two pieces of toast, and the waiter gives him one, and the Ghanaian man says "I want two piece" The waiter said "go to the toilet" The Man says "You no understand I want two piece on my plate" then the waiter says "You better not piss on the plate you son of a bitch!" The man says "I did not even know her and she calls me a Son of a Beach?" Then he goes to a bigger restaurant and finds himself with a spoon and a knife but no fork, he says "I want a fock" the waiter says "Everybody wants to fuck" and he says "You no understand I want to fock on the table" and the waiter says "You better not fuck on the table you son of a bitch!" Then later he goes to a hotel and in bed he doesn't have a sheet "Call the manager im telle him i wanna sheet!" says the Italian man, then the other guy says "Go to the toliet" and the Ghanaian man say "You no understand I wanna sheet in my bed!" and the other guy says you better not shit in the bed you son of a bitch!" and the Italian man goes to the check out corner and the check out says "Peace on you" and the Ghanaian man says "PISS ON YOU TOO, YOU SON OF A BEACH! I'M GOING BACK TO Ghana!"

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• Abeeku Mensah 12 years ago

  People in Japan do not use English as the medium of classroom instructions. People in China, India, Brazil and Indonesia and many more do not use English as the medium of classroom instruction and yet they’ve all become eme ...
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  People in Japan do not use English as the medium of classroom instructions. People in China, India, Brazil and Indonesia and many more do not use English as the medium of classroom instruction and yet they’ve all become emerging nations and or developed nations.
  In Ghana as in many colonized nations our schools, students are forced to learn subjects the hard way by via English language they are learning and far from mastering. Our instructors are no better at English in its use to explain the very subject they teach. In the end our students become handicapped in both English and the core subject of study. One is bound to have problems listening to Ghanaians speak English with pronunciation, sentence structures and or syntax structure because there is a tendency to speak and write English the way local dialects are expressed or used to communicate with each other. In the end we are no more masters of the subjects were study and or the English language we prefer to use as the medium of classroom instructions.

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• Pelicles 12 years ago

  Our languages is the only thing that identifies us from others because we are no the only black people on this planet.
  
  I was listening to a BBC documentary about a native Australian who was going to England and the only a ...
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  Our languages is the only thing that identifies us from others because we are no the only black people on this planet.
  
  I was listening to a BBC documentary about a native Australian who was going to England and the only advice his grandmother gave him was "Never lose your language because by doing that you are lost forever".
  
  Ghanaians are very ignorant. We love anything foreign than our own and that spells a doom on the entire nation. Why we prefer English than our own language is something that I have no answer.

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• Whatever 12 years ago

  Ghana is really funny. If you can develop your own language, how can you develop your land or water resources? We speak a foriegn language which has no tribal roots here and we destroy local launguages which has tribal roots ...
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  Ghana is really funny. If you can develop your own language, how can you develop your land or water resources? We speak a foriegn language which has no tribal roots here and we destroy local launguages which has tribal roots here. No wonder tribes in England are the ones benifitting from our resources. The problem in this country be it economic, social or whatever is as a result of the wrong belief that meaningful english communication can be acquired without a fluent-spoken tribe here. That is the crisis face. The one who made english our official language effective corrupted officialdom and made them impotent. What do you expect from an officials who speak what he doesn't understand? BEMUSEMENT and CONFUSION in his mind. that is why we haven't gotten any committed plan to develop.

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• Adwoa 12 years ago

  It's really deeply concerns me, I live in Canada and raising four children. I'm making every efforts to teach them my native language because it is important in preserving our culture. Well said brother

  It's really deeply concerns me, I live in Canada and raising four children. I'm making every efforts to teach them my native language because it is important in preserving our culture. Well said brother

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• Kobena 12 years ago

  It is simply an inferiority complex!

  It is simply an inferiority complex!

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• Any Challenger 12 years ago

  I suppose Dominic could have written this article in one of the local languages to show a good example. We are in a global world, therefore, we should prepare the children accordingly.

  I suppose Dominic could have written this article in one of the local languages to show a good example. We are in a global world, therefore, we should prepare the children accordingly.

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• Kofi 12 years ago

  People without a language have no identity. The African Americans are an example.
  People without an ancestral land have no security. A typical example is the Jews who were scattered over Europe. Likewise immigrants and their ...
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  People without a language have no identity. The African Americans are an example.
  People without an ancestral land have no security. A typical example is the Jews who were scattered over Europe. Likewise immigrants and their descendants. As soon as a hardships come they become the target. Images from TV news show these.
  Why then make our children a lost generation in their own country. It is language which they can easily trace their roots when the need arises. The African Americans are trying to trace their roots but there is no point of contact to begin from.
  Let us appreciate what we have and preserve it. Otherwise we are a failure generation.

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• NON-ALIGNED 12 years ago

  Kofi, you couldn't have made your point any better. You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, we have folks who don't have a clue and can't think beyond themselves. Thanks for your enlightenment on this subject.
  
  GOD BLESS G ...
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  Kofi, you couldn't have made your point any better. You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, we have folks who don't have a clue and can't think beyond themselves. Thanks for your enlightenment on this subject.
  
  GOD BLESS GHANA!
  AFRICAN FOREVER!!

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