E-Levy: Another Victim of Ghanaian Alliterate Culture

 

On Thursday, May 5, 2022, whilst topping my mobile wallet –not e-levied – a conversation ensued between the vendor and another client:

Client:(Sternly) I am withdrawing money from my account; don’t you dare tax me even one Cedi!
Vendor: Withdrawal from your account does not attract e-Levy.
Client: (Smiling) Really, no e-Levy?
Vendor: No. Transferring money to another person’s wallet attracts e-Levy, not your own withdrawal. (Vendor and I chorused): You are fighting what you do not even understand.

The exchange reminded me of two national policies that suffered ignorant antipathy: At the maiden plenary session of the 2007 Educational Review, the Director of Curriculum Review and Development Design, now NaCCA, lamented that the Religious and Moral Education subject was not impacting moral values of pupils, focus on religious issues notwithstanding. A lengthy debate in the succeeding sessions culminated in the consensus that rather than teach/learn values in isolation under one subject, moral values should be worked into all the subjects. Social Studies would tackle religious issues.

The Director’s logic still resonates with me: Market women knock inwards the bottom of measuring tins for grains, short-changing customers. Scales are also adjusted to cheat customers. In a pragmatic discussion of addition or percentages, teachers could explain that a tampered tin or adjusted scales do not give expected value for money – Dishonest. All subject areas, including English Language, worked assiduously to incorporate moral and cultural values into lessons, also managing social-emotional learning. It was a strenuous effort to render education practical.

The Reviewers never expected the hue and cry that greeted the first draft syllabus over the removal of Religious and Moral Education. The most vociferous protest came from the Churches. Apparently, the Review Committee and the sitting Government were antichrist to dare remove such a subject. Through all the pontification, however, I gleaned that they had not read the syllabi. The superficially about subject removal, disregarding rationale and replacement effort, was numbing.

The subjected was reinstated; paradoxically, pupil morality has continued to dip to the lowest ebb. Eighteen years later, we are harvesting increasing basic school alcohol/drug addiction, materialism, immorality culminating in teenage pregnancies, unplanned births, unnecessary curtailment of girl/child education, and a perpetuation of female dependency and poverty statuses. Could we, possibly, have done better with the original 2007 curriculum draft?

The Comprehensive Sex Education concept yielded another national hollow ruckus from the uniformed. One Monday, I was meeting four professional groups, so I sought learner perspective. Their only apprehension was the open discussion of sex, arguing it would arouse children’s curiosity. I explained it was purported to open discussion on sex, sensitize children, among others, about being touched wrongly, even by parents, potentially raise assertive children to resist/reduce child molestation, promote responsible attitude towards sex. I asked who had read the document. No one in four tertiary professional groups had read the document, yet they were condemning it.

The dialogue above starkly reminded me that we are treading the same alliterate route with E-Levy, so I ask ALL adversaries: Have you read the document? If any antagonist, like the client above, has not read and understood taxed items, exemptions, what is the moral grounds for heightened antagonism? Sheer antipathy to taxation – civic responsibility?

Residents who have embraced superficiality are not interested in adjustments for genuine human resource development and empowerment. If we treaded a literate course, all radio and TV stations would devote an hour each day to explain the E-Levy through knowledgeable tax personnel throughout 2022. Pressure groups and Ghanaian think tanks would collaborate with the NCCE and Ghana Revenue Authority/Ministry of Education/Adult Education/the Media to simultaneously design grassroots education and critique the process to straighten Government.

A literate Ghana would be critically poring over the tax details for responsibilities, exemptions, potential for national economic sustenance. An analytical Ghana would be scrutinizing the digitization process GRA is utilizing for fair taxation, the savvy of ICT personnel involved, the competence and integrity of communication service providers/Momo operators, the technological knowledge/infrastructure they have for competent services. We have responsibilities! My question to each stakeholder: Have you read the E-Levy document?

The Mirror

 

If Charles Dickens were here and he considered a world ravaged by a pandemic, a compounded global aggravation due to a war launched by a narcissistic personality determined to prove his superiority complex, regardless of who gets hurt, thereby, raising the avalanche of humanitarian crises amidst global warming, migration, increasing poverty and hunger, he would definitely label our days hard times. However, if he aptly summed the mentality of many Ghanaians determined to reap where they had not sown, always expecting freebies from government, upholding a chronic stance of dependency, he would brand our days embarrassing times.

The Executives and Finance Minister ought to pat themselves on the shoulder for compelling Ghanaians to confront our inner selves. The E-Levy concept has become a mirror which has forcefully thrown back at Ghanaians their true substance. It has been insightful, sometimes sadly humorous, observing the reactions of politicians, academicians, advocacy groups and ordinary Ghanaians through the tax debate. The psyche emerged cherishes dependency and floors dignity.

My mathematics has never been strong, but I could hold my own in logic and general knowledge whilst in school. Therefore, I know that governments maximize taxes from endeavours highly patronized by the populace. Even the argument of the proposed rate being on the higher side was frail because taxation is not arbitrary. Earnings and expenditure –financial obligations – determine payment and/or benefits of exemption. Taxing per earnings cushions citizens in low-income brackets.

Of course, a National Identification system would enable the National Revenue Agency (GRA) to track residents’ financial standing, but the National Identification Authority (NIA) totters, digitization notwithstanding. Consequently, the GRA cannot faithfully widen the tax bracket for fair assessment and taxation. If government had cracked the whip and made the NIA worked assiduously to complete the identification process before the bill was introduced, it might have yielded a desirable transparency, smoothening the process. The image that emerges in the mirror does not flatter the Executive.

Parliament, especially, the opposition had a legitimate duty to debate the bill for equity and fairness. The strange aspect was the opposition’s rejection of an inevitable tax bill. If the current government had not introduced the bill, a future government would have due to the increasing patronage of electronic transactions, potentially reducing banks’ businesses. If government does not tax that line of service, how would it recover slipping revenue? If I fathomed that, then the opposition definitely was savvy, so the rejection threw me. Even so, it was hugely interesting to watch the shifting positions of rejection, stakeholder engagement, rate reduction.

The opposition’s argument of protecting the masses was the most controversial, if not downright cynical. The most effective way to defend the masses would have been to plug the corporate exploitative holes to give ordinary Ghanaians value for money. Communication Service Providers might easily top the list of corporate exploitation in the country. However, the extent of exploitation is a conversation for another day. Sadly, Parliament squandered a huge opportunity in tightening regulations to ensure quality communications service to citizens. Consequently, the image of the opposition law makers in the mirror is equally unflattering.

Ghanaian academicians can prove a hindrance to progress when giving recommendations to government. With tongue in check, one academician implored Ghanaian to accept the bill in order to save the economy. He also advocated a check and balance: A commission which would oversee the total revenue per a tax season and pragmatic utilization of the funds. That recommendation really flipped me upside down! Knowing the stupendous amounts that constitutes allowances for commissions and national committees in Ghana, if government accepted that recommendation, the commission’s allowances would suck whatever revenue would emanate from the levy, negating the initiative. That was the most unflattering image in the mirror, the academician.

The cacophony of massed voices yielded a horrifying hydra-headed image of dependency mentality, overshadowing a glowing image of diligent ones who put nation first, protect resources and pay tax to support the economy. Ironically, that marginal group keeps the national boat afloat. Each one of us must conscientiously search the soul to align self with the appropriate image for refinement.

Yet Another Season of Strikes

 

Advocates of the lame defence that the only language governments of Ghana understand is strike miss the reality that a strike could also represent workers’ simplistic way of securing a financial objective. There is some validity in the argument that Ghanaian politicians receive extremely high salaries, whilst the ordinary worker shouldering the economy is tossed a meagre salary, hence, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Indeed, one cannot defend the reality that an economy that struggles constantly also supports some exorbitant wages. Non-politicians also enjoy mind-blowing salaries. Sadly, some public organizations, struggling to fulfil their core mandate, would defend high salaries, even fulfil extravagant service conditions, diverting limited funds from where it belongs, then compromise and/or neglect primary service.

Paying taxes is a civic responsibility, but since we are in the strike season, perhaps those of us in the small bracket of the country’s taxpayers should also embark on a strike to protest the unfairness of shouldering more than our fair share of Ghana’s financial burden for many a cheat who earn and pocket entire income for extravagance. Ironically, the penultimate group understands that governance is hinged on taxation. Without ordinary people’s taxes, governments will not be able to provide services, so we earn and pay our taxes – low or high.  

I have scanty knowledge about determining wages and salaries, but my gumption tells me that certain perilous jobs attract higher remuneration – not that any amount can compensate loss of life. Some services are lifesaving so performers must be motivated to prioritize public life, not short-change society. Organizations consider current living conditions and remunerate commensurately. Some jobs come with multifarious roles, so duties and associated stress guide remuneration. The fact remains that every line of service contributes to the overall development of a nation. To wit, determining wages/salaries is a painful, complex antagonistic task; little wonder that there is constant dissent. It is humanly impossible to satisfy all employees at all times, strength of economy notwithstanding.

Workers’ strike has become a channel, sometimes, utilized by Unions in Ghana to circumvent constructive dialogue and realistic negotiations, effectively clouding current reality. It is increasingly a weapon for legitimizing the appalling spirit of entitlement rising among contemporary Ghanaians. The spate of strikes is alarming because service provision does not improve with wage/salary augmentation. Service continues to slip. All sectors are lamenting the high cost of living and increased taxes, but equal attention is not given to low productivity.

That strikes/protests have become an escape route for some rhetoricians might be deduced from some protests staged to counter initiatives with potential for strengthening the autonomy. Sometimes, the counter advocacy makes one shudder for the future leadership such represents. Subjectivity effectively stamps out the environment for critical analysis of wage/salary negotiations, the most frightening being the silence on long-term implications.

The entire world is besieged by overwhelming challenges, some camouflaging cataclysmic shrouds: Climate Change threatens existence, COVID-19 pandemic keeps nations on tenterhooks, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has deepened global troubled waters. Such occur amidst rising unemployment, porous skills of graduates, deepening poverty, food security threats and alarming crime rate in Ghana, to mention these.

Yet, one hears about increase in wages/salaries only, in a country which paid public sector workers full salary during COVID-19 lockdown. The stock-cushion for increment without the commensurate productivity is rapidly eroding due to exponential population growth, rising illiteracy rate, porous skills which culminate in low, and/or cheap productivity, which thus compromise industry’s global competitiveness. For how long can a frail economy support such liabilities? But many Ghanaians will sing, pray, play the blame game and go on strike, rather than critically analyse actions and consequences.

It is time Unions targeted high productivity for fair, sustainable wage/salary increases. Demand technological hands-on training to strengthen industry. Compel systems to utilize digitization to sprint education and industry to 21^st Century production capacity. Urge workers to utilize resources effectively. Condemn Ghanaian dependency mentality. Implore workers to embrace genuine knowledge and skill acquisition, diligence, and professionalism for dignity. Prompt workers to eschew mediocrity, strive for excellence. In short, Unions must negotiate holistically!

Ghana Beyond Aid: A Concept for the Astute

 

When President Akuffo-Addo first pronounced his vision of Ghana beyond Aid before an international gathering, my immediate reaction was you must first rid Ghanaians of the dependency mentality. I should have twittered him that line. The vision can be likened to an academic paper. A coherent one has a controlling idea summarized in a mature thesis statement, which is broadened through major themes/ideas stated through topic sentences. The themes/ideas are logically developed, strategically supported through cohesive, related sentences. A paper that follows those rules achieves unity of thought.

Ghana beyond aid is this Leadership’s controlling idea, the rationale being eventual assertive people whose intelligence and acquired knowledge empower them to decide what they want/need and pursue such through responsible, effective and sustainable use of resources. The ultimate outcome of an autonomous, Ghanaian society is possible only though ingenious human capital. Sadly, many Ghanaians – politicians, intellectuals, lay, clergy, youth, old – wittingly or unwittingly have failed to grasp the concept.

Major policies expected to propel Ghana towards that vision include gender-equity education, digitization, industrialization, environmentally friendly measures, and technology that strategically supports teaching/learning and lends currency to industrial operations, to mention these. Utilizing tax to fund basic and secondary education would help Ghana to raise quality human capital. Information Communication Technology continues to impact education and channel global development, so the policy of digitization is expected to bring currency to education and reforms to fuel quality learning/training as well as diversely sanitize operations across all sectors, bring quality service and convenience to Ghanaians. Global warming is endangering humanity, so environmental issues constitute a key policy, one major element of which is fighting illegal mining to protect natural resources. It requires a holistic perception to appreciate the high level of governance rolled out in the last five years, amidst severest of constrains. Indeed, governance is a negotiation between government and the governed.

Policies initiated by the Executive are implemented by public and civil services and the private sectors; such roll out policies through strategic analysis, planning and localization of initiated policies. Digitization is already yielding dividends; interoperability has transformed business transactions and brought desired convenience to the Ghanaian consumer. If all the sectors zealously tapped the policy, the benefits would be even greater. One hopes for expedited action to compel all sectors to align public services to the policy to reduce exploitation and tax evasion.

However, development does not occur without cost to citizens. Across the world, quality services are offered to citizens at a huge price: Taxation. Pragmatic Ghanaians know that governance is hinged on taxation, and those who earn higher income pay higher taxes. To wit, improved services attract higher taxation, which rate is determined by the existing level of productivity. Low productivity and a small tax bracket equate high taxation – Ghana’s reality. The citizens who have enjoyed free services in the past five years are raising a hue and cry over new and increased taxes with the lame excuse that they did not ask for such services, they are poor. Well, government needs taxes to provide environment that reduces poverty.

Many citizens wilfully, unremorsefully commit atrocities against the environment, which poor actions spiral off human suffering and environmental degradation, culminating in increased state expenditure and high cost of living that deepen residents’ poverty. Gullibility renders many residents susceptible to exploitation. Ghanaians’ debilitating mindset that they are entitled to reward without work continues to drain national coffers, replenished through high taxation. Instead of throwing punches, this hung parliament should conscientiously negotiate for the most effective implementation of the E-Levy. NCCE should quadruple national sensitization efforts in civic responsibilities.

When government expenditure keeps skyrocketing and productivity remains low, higher taxation results. The extensive aid that supports Ghana results from high taxation of people elsewhere. So why should we not raise taxes to propel our development? Paying tax towards self-sustenance is dignifying; effective utilization of taxation is the only realistic channel towards sustainable development. Yet, many Ghanaians fail to accept that. The agitators are not fighting for E-Levy tax withdrawal; they are viciously gripping the entrenched dependency mentality – expecting but not prepared to work/pay for services/development.

UTAG’s Strike: Some Upshoots

 

UTAG’s indefinite strike, which commenced on January 10, 2022, has hit many a pragmatic Ghanaian with a high degree of sadness laced with an equally higher degree of cynicism, not only for the timing but also due to UTAG’s apparent disconnect with the times. It is extremely worrying that the trump card in Teachers’ salary negotiation is constantly withholding the precious activity of knowledge creation and sharing. It works because no stakeholder wants to derail the academic calendar: Learners desire to either advance or complete programmes. Parents/Guardians do not relish any lingering time for paying tuition. The employer does not want to be unpopular. Basically, that trump card secures government’s acquiescence.

The paradox of that trump card is that teachers who ought to nurture students’ appreciation for critical learning rather model materialism, thus, trample the fundamental classroom rationale of prioritizing knowledge. Learners pick the materialistic mindset, which explains the disturbing trend of many growing Ghanaians simply wanting to take. That spirit of being entitled to, currently dominant among a bigger cross-section of Ghanaians, has emanated from the culture of always taking from government, even though government possesses nothing, but the resources taxed from the people whose intelligence and diligence are nurtured to explore and live by the natural endowments of the nation.

It is true that Unions must negotiate working conditions that align with current realities, even as the employer also strategizes to save revenue. There is also no gainsaying that every employee can do with a little bit of extra money, but all ought to occur within certain ethical lines and the realities of the times, otherwise the business of salary negotiation becomes mercenary. It is incumbent upon the government to ensure that the growing generations receive adequate training for future responsibilities.

Silent Indicators

In the January 9th online edition of the Daily Graphic, UTAG claims “non-determination of Market Premium (MP), an interim payment measure frozen in 2013 for a market survey to determine deserving beneficiaries. Its bone of contention is that the survey failed to resolve the issue. However, the Association also appears to be circumventing. What precipitated the freezing? Good communicators do not simply rely on information given; they also consider the implications of what is not shared.

Is the non-determination an omission or a hint that universities are short-changing the employer and job market? The worsening unemployment situation over the period due to graduates seeking jobs instead of creating jobs, compulsory entrepreneurship training notwithstanding, is not exactly an argument for teachers’ unique market relevance. Industry disparages graduates’ skills. The previous government may have suspended the MP, but the current government has had to initiate the National Builders Corps to enhance graduates’ skill in technology whilst temporarily engaging them across sectors. Additionally, it has had to establish an entrepreneurship programme for graduates and other youth, alongside skill development programmes, also accompanied by a solid ICT initiative for learners, all from the same national revenue, about 60 % of which goes to pay salary, teachers’ taking an appreciable chunk. Does UTAG – and other Teacher Unions – consider the adverse implications of those interventions when government takes over the training functions of learning institutions?

Elsewhere, universities invest heavily in Information Communication Technology to render teaching/training current to address employment mismatch. Contrarily in Ghana, government must enhance technological skills of graduates. In other communities, even traditional universities consider industrial retraining of graduates upon employment as an indictment and are strenuously exploring internships to make their graduates marketable. Ghanaian universities “churn out” graduates who are retrained en mass by the government. How is that a prime for a market premium. Is government’s persistent bowing to Teacher Unions’ demands fair to the taxpayer, a cross-section of whom are parents who pay for learners’ education, which renders them susceptible to underutilization, unemployment?

Government recommends that UTAG liaises with the Public Services Commission to train human resources for higher positions. The Association’s response is numbing: “How can such a National Agenda be attained if the CoS of the University Teacher keeps worsening year on year leading to an ever-increasing attrition rate on our campuses? (Emphasis mine) Instead of affirming its training capability, UTAG is using its “relatively poor salary stead” to justify its inability to develop capacity, as well as its unwillingness to collaborate to that effect. In other words, existing courses do not target competency and capacity building. UTAG’s admission legitimizes the recent allegation by a graduate that the [universities] are not offering formidable skills to students, which allegation received wide condemnation from the university fraternity.

By implication, teachers are deepening the unemployment situation of Ghanaian graduates. Ideally, before asking for more, one ought to have judiciously, effectively utilized available resources to maximum benefits. How does UTAG justify the relatively good working conditions enjoyed so far – and its quest for more – since it is neglecting capacity building?

Research

UTAG is angling for a raise in research allowance, glossing the poor research culture of the institutions. Currently, for many tertiary learners, research is plagiarizing existing material – labelled grandfather – or paying someone to conduct investigation. The scourge has infected a cross-section of teaching elements who barely possess research skills. Every year, major research funds remain untouched. Why does UTAG jump capacity building to focus on research allowance?

Indeed, one needs major funding for some investigations, but studies can also be conducted frugally. UTAG’s focus should be action and pragmatic research to unearth best practices to save the ailing educational system. Many Ghanaians scramble for overseas studies. In the 60 and 70s, those communities invested heavily in action research, which investment has yielded best classroom practices. Such communities maintain international standards in education, hence, their attraction.

Instead of making a capital allegation of meagre research allowance, why not collaborate with industry? In many countries, effective university research is largely rooted in industrial collaboration. Industry needs capable people to conduct research for innovation. Universities offer the best destination. By not developing capacity, UTAG is its own nemesis. It is only in the debilitating government-must-do-it-all Ghanaian system that universities constantly batter sitting governments for research allowance. UTAG should widen its collaborative networks across the globe, but success depends on high-powered research themes supporting the SDGs, human capacity for integrity and innovation, to mention two.

Skewed Negotiations

Government is partly to be blamed for its skewed negotiation culture, for its consistent failure to insist on diligence, for failing to drive a learner-focused bargain. The PM negotiation is conditioned on unique service, which relevance is not clouded in teacher knowledge only but made tangible through competent graduates. In the past decade, how have the institutions lived up to capacity building for the Ghanaian market? Considering that university teachers have already acquired knowledge and are teaching, how has that knowledge translated into graduates that employers desire? Government’s recommendation to UTAG to collaborate for higher capacity building is a poignant reminder of a very harsh reality. UTAG should not limit PM to itself, for a teacher’s relevance is linked to the learner’s eventual empowerment.

Holding learners to Ransom

Halving the PM equation to make it apply to UTAG only implies holding learners to ransom. The current reality in Ghana is high unemployment, low productivity and poor service delivery. At a time when universities annually “churn out” graduates, how does UTAG answer to dwindling capacity building, poor work ethics vis-à-vis universities’ core values and strategic plans for excellence?

It is time the negotiating paradigm changed to level the ground for government, teachers and learner, for learners’ interests to become an inherent part of the equations on the negotiating table. There are urgent reasons for that. If government paid better attention, it would pick the faint wails of the oppressed learner being submerged by handouts that have dethroned meritocracy in the classroom. Many teachers are speedily losing their grasp for developing learners’ capacity. Universities and tertiary institutions continue to play a dominant role in human capital development. The Ghanaian challenge is adding quality to training.

Currently, it is a harrowing experience to seek services from many in the country – from education through trading, health, building to agriculture – to name five. Both private and public universities in the country proudly “churn out” graduates, yet, performance and quality service delivery, especially from the younger generations, are simply appalling. It is a depraved situation calling for redress. Conditions of service do not exist in a vacuum; it is a motivation for teaching excellence. That dimension has been smothered. Government neglects that balance to the taxpayer’s peril. It will increase salary without the commensurate productivity, as usual, then turn round to fleece the taxpayer. Why is it that government and teachers eat sour grapes, and the taxpayer’s teeth are set on edge?

 

 Celebrating  International Mother Tongue Day February 21

Twi Annwensem

Nhumu

Sԑ woka sԑ kͻ a,
Wubetumi aka sε gyina?

Woka sε yε a,
Wubetumi aka sε gyae?

Sε wͻgyae a

Amanfõ bεyε ͻman?

nsõ bεdane ade?

dεmdi bεkͻ?

Awufo besͻre

ma adwootwa agyae?

Wͻnnyε wo de oo

Nanso

Wͻsom bo ma obi:

Awofo

Mma

Abusuafo

Ayͻnkofo

 Adͻfo

Wͻasa wͻ man mu!

Adesεe,

Adehwere.

Meyԑ atetekwaa.
Menim kakraa:

“Wͻnnhwԑ tumm mu ntia mu.”

Enti

M’asεmmisa tiawa:

Wubetumi ahye ade,

a wonnsεe ade?

 

Marginalizing the Mother Tongue in Ghana is Destroying Education

 

Increasingly, the Ghanaian tertiary classroom is receiving learners who cannot effectively handle the English Language. Reading is a chore for such learners, apparently, due to the poor comprehension skills. Reading is no fun when a reader has challenges understanding text. The students in question cannot produce coherent text, so they plagiarize. Asking such students to apply concepts learnt in class is a thorny experience, due to poor comprehension. It is indeed baffling that learners could have studied English for about fourteen years yet communicate so poorly in the Language.

Ironically, learners are losing grasp of English at a time when many Ghanaian parents tend to speak English with their children at home, right from infancy. The former erroneously believe that just by using English, their children would acquire proficiency in the major language. Such parents could be literate or semi-literate, they struggle to speak English with their children. Ghana’s high illiteracy rate, coupled with porous handling of language policies across levels of education, culminate in many residents leaving school with abysmal English skills. Therefore, the English spoken at home tends to be below standard.

Worst of all, many private schools neither teach Ghanaian languages nor allow learners to use them in school. Some would even instruct learners not to speak the mother tongue at home. Therefore, when parents attempt to communicate in the first tongue, their children would not be engaged. The situation effectively creates linguistic interlopers who, unwittingly, squander the mother tongue and flip flop in the second language. Poor language skills effectively hamper learning, especially, at the formative level, rendering socio-cultural, intellectual development processes shallow as learners progress. Instead of producing knowledgeable and skilled professionals, we are, currently, mostly creating charlatans.

The situation has persisted for a considerable time, so questionable knowledge and skills have permeated the sectors, from health through service, legal, energy, transport housing, to mention six. When major stakeholders possess porous knowledge and skills, they fail to appreciate service and value. Consequently, there is hardly service delivery in Ghana now, but shoddiness and exploitation.

Evidently, slighting the mother tongue is yielding poor dividends in the Ghanaian society. Growing generation are rapidly losing the linguistic values and legitimate world view inherent in the mother language. Sacrificing the language also implies squandering vast opportunities for job creation – translation, writing, publishing – in a country saddled with a high unemployment rate. When indigenous people elsewhere are fighting vehemently to save their languages, many indigenous Ghanaians trample upon indigenous languages. Instead of embracing multilingualism, many Ghanaians advocate dominant language supremacy.

Of the estimated 6,000 languages of the world, 43 % is endangered; UNESCO reports that a language is lost every fortnight. Ghanaian languages might be in that category, considering the growing trend of poor usage among indigenes. As the world marks International Mother Tongue Day on February 21^st, well-meaning Ghanaians ought to reflect on the grave implications of marginalizing indigenous languages. Improvement can come through concerted efforts only.

The Education Ministry ought to revisit the language policy and strategize strict implementation. Private schools in the country must be obliged to offer Ghanaian languages. Teacher certification at the basic and secondary levels should be conditional upon a teacher’s proficiency in, at least, one Ghanaian language. Both at home and school, children should be encouraged to use their mother tongue. Such bold steps would, gradually, ensure a balance in the use of mother tongue and English.

Families ought to know that marginalizing the mother tongue is a delinquent stance, because it compromises a child’s learning experience. Conversely, when a child receives the mother tongue through childcare and formative learning years, her/his learning experience is smoothened. There are diverse, valid and human reasons for speaking and valuing Ghanaian indigenous languages. On Sunday, February 21^st, every Ghanaian ought to promise the self to learn to be an effective user of the mother tongue and show appreciation for its socio-cultural, intellectual and linguistic endowments. May the International Mother Language Day motivate all to contemplate the question: Do I desire to know the values inherent in my mother tongue?