The people of Buem Traditional Area in the Volta Region can now boast of a Bible in their mother tongue that is the Lelemi Bible, after 94 years of translational works.

Translational works on the Bible into Lelemi was started in the 1920s by a Buem, Reverend Father A. O. Dogli, West Africa’s first Catholic Priest, and a pioneer in education among the communities of mountainous Volta Region.

However, Father Dogli’s work was rejected and his writings burnt after struggling to translate the bible for his own people.

Performing the launch of the Lelemi Bible on Monday in Accra, Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah, Executive Director of the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translations, said: “I am very happy that the Lelemi Bible is being dedicated in honour of Father Dogli. This is a vindication of the pioneering work that he did”.

He said the work on the Lelemi Bible was revived in the early 1980s, with trial translation beginning in 1983 with Benard Ofori and Kwame Olawu, both deceased, helping the main translator, Dr Andy Ring; others including Diko, Mr Divine Mununkum, had also played critical roles in this.

He said in 1996 the Lelemi New Testament was dedicated at Bodada-Buem in the Volta Region, where the Paramount Chief of Buem Traditional Council, Nana Akpanja, asked for the Old Testament to be translated, promising to support the work to get the entire Bible in Buem.

“The work on the Old Testament started in 1998, and 19 years later, we are ready to formally dedicate it,” the Executive Director said.

Dr Opoku-Mensah said it was only when the people of Buem begun to read and apply the Lelemi Bible in their daily lives that the works of Father Dogli, Dr Ring and others would come to completion.

“What Father Dogli began in the 1920s, and was continued by Andy Ring in the 1980s, must be taken over completely by you in 2014,” he said.

Mr Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah, Buem Member of Parliament (MP), said understanding the bible, which is God’s word, would promote brotherly love, peace and unity and development among the Buem people.

Mr Killian Abrapah, Buem District Chief Executive, paid glowing tributes to the translators for their good works.

He urged Buem citizens to unite as one people with a common destiny in order to move the Buem Traditional Area forward.

Rev Dr Elias Kwaku Asiama, Lecturer, School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, said the launch of the Lelemi Bible was a turning point in the history of the Buem people.

He said it was essential that more teachers, especially women, were trained in the Lelemi Language, so that they would in turn train other people.

Mr Isaka Buraima, President for the Coalition of Peace and Development in Buem, said the bible proclaims God’s word which teaches morals, inspires faith and shapes the lives of people to be righteous.

He said the immorality in society today would be eliminated if only Ghanaians began to read the bible and put its teachings into practice.

Mr Mununkum, one of the translators of the Lelemi Bible, said the usage of the bible would bring progress to the Buem people.

The first copies of the Lelemi Bible were purchased by the MP and the DCE at GHC500 each. The bible would be dedicated at Baglo-Buem in the Volta Region on Saturday, November 22, 2014.