Tumu (U/W), June 8, GNA - Mr. Chieminah Abudu Gariba, Founder and Director of Sissala Heritage Foundation, has said the increasing adoption of English, Arabic and other foreign names in the country was detrimental to the development of Ghanaian culture and identity. He said among the Sissala people in particular, this unfortunate development had led to identity problems.

Mr. Gariba said during the launch of a 164-page book titled "Sissala Names and Meanings."

The over 4,000 indigenous names and meanings contained in the book had been categorized into spiritual, philosophical, experiential, descriptive, episodic, praise and ancestral names.

Mr. Gariba said the objective of the book was to preserve the rich indigenous names of the Sissalas for current and future generations to enable them have access to a repertoire of Sissala names from which they could choose.

He said Sissalas had deviated from their culture and were adopting foreign names which they did not understand and could not pronounce correctly.

Mr. Gariba said civilization could not be preserved by material means alone and appealed to Sissalas and Ghanaians in general to help preserve their civilization by giving indigenous names to their children. He thanked the government, Cultural Initiatives Support Programmes (CSIP), and the European Development Fund for supporting him to become an author and a publisher.

Mr. Daniel Appiah-Adjei, Programmes Officer of CSIP, commended Mr. Gariba for his vision and desire towards projecting the image and beauty of traditional names amongst the Sissalas and the country as a whole. He said the collection and documentation of indigenous names had been considerably enlarged to become an important academic resource of worldwide significance.

Madam Alijata Sulemana, Sissala East District Chief Executive, said the launch of the book had just come at the right time when preparations for the teaching of Sissali as a Ghanaian Language were being put in place. She said it was her hope that the launch of the book would motivate others to write more books in the Sissali Language to make its teaching easy.

Madam Alijata ordered 50 copies of the books to be distributed to some schools in the district. Mr. Gariba is also the author of "The Secret of Success in Exams" and "Gogubiee Sissalin Le".