Flying the flag of Ghana: Merseyside Association of Ghanaians score a brace in UK 2013 awards

By: Samwin J Banienuba

The year 2013 will for a long time remain a memorable record in annals of the Ghanaian community resident in Merseyside in the United Kingdom (UK). It is the year in which the Merseyside Association of Ghanaians (MAG) won a brace of highly coveted awards within a spell of less than a month. Remarkable! It began on 26th October when organisers of Black History Month in Liverpool doffed caps to MAG with the Black Achievers Community Organisation Award for 2013 and paid tribute to the long standing constructive engagement of the Association with the rest of society. Just when one thought MAG was probably stirring waves only in Liverpool, or Merseyside for that matter, organisers and followers of the Ghana UK Based Achievement Awards (GUBA) announced that they too had taken notice from London and on 16th November followed suit with the Ghanaian Association of the Year Award for community service and positive development.

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England which comprises the boroughs of Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral and the Liverpool metropolis. Created by the Local Government Act of 1972, the county derives its name from the River Mersey and is hemmed in by Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and the Irish Sea south of the Dee Estuary. Being that Liverpool has been a port city for time immemorial, including the better forgotten yester years of the infamous slave trade, Ghanaians have always lived here and MAG has been the rallying platform in this part of the UK even though the Association traces its history to as recent as 1987 when it was formally constituted as a welfare association and subsequently acquired a charity status in 1990 after registering with the UK Charity Commission.

The city of Liverpool boasts the highest concentration of Ghanaians in Merseyside and Ghanaians in Liverpool like to recall that Kwame Nkrumah first docked here in 1935 before continuing his sojourn in the United States. It is also in Liverpool that MAG has put up its superlative best in flying the flag for homeland Ghana and mother Africa. The Association not only fosters unity and solidarity amongst Ghanaians and people of Ghanaian descent but also provides initiative and leadership to African concerns within the county. In particular, it often acts as liaison for coordinating matters of the African community, creates useful links between Ghana and Merseyside and furthers collaborative partnerships with the Liverpool City Council, the universities and the Liverpool and International Slavery museums amongst others to advance mutual aims and objectives.

The youth wing of MAG is particularly conspicuous in almost every activity that is significant in the cultural calendar of Liverpool and is fondly acclaimed for quality display of performances that leave the African with nostalgic fulfilment and awe local audience with a healthy curiosity of the West African country. On the strength of their performances of cultural finesse MAG was awarded the Heritage Lottery Grant in 2008 and 2009 to promote Ghanaian and African culture throughout Merseyside and beyond in Cheshire. The youth wing has since remained the toast of many programmes and activities in the county and the poster face of African culture in Liverpool in particular.

Besides promoting Ghana in Merseyside and celebrating national days, welfare for Ghanaians in the county and community service for the rest of society are the twin pillars upon which the aims and objectives of MAG are constructed and around which programmes and activities are developed. The Association has been especially visible and progressively so in recent years under the indefatigable leadership of Dr Jonas Appiah-Ankam. It has acquired an office, launched a website and communicates proactively with the Ghanaian community and other organisations and institutions with which it shares common mission, ethos and objectives in the county. This must have made it extremely difficult for organisers of Black History Month in Liverpool and GUBA in London not to acknowledge that MAG has been queuing for these awards finally bestowed on the Association this year.

Yet, it has not always been a straight shot at the stars for MAG. Like most associations it has had its rocky years with ups and downs. While some observers pooh-pooh past slipups and blame it on poverty of leadership others have attributed it to nonchalance and general apathy of Ghanaians per se. As is however often said in cases like this, the truth has to be either both or somewhere in-between. Whatever the arguments MAG has most certainly picked itself up from the dusty bins of lethargy and has arduously worked itself into the limelight of attention and awards. To win the GUBA Association of the Year, for instance, MAG had to compete and beat off other well placed Ghanaian nominees such as the Ghana Nurses Association, the Scotland Ghana Society and the Ghana Armed Forces Ex-Service Association.

Clearly, MAG has been doing something right and worthy over recent years and if any sceptic out there still doubts the resolve of this association to succeed they have the Liverpool Black Achievers Community Organisation Award for 2013 and the GUBA Ghanaian Association of 2013 to realise it is headed for the summit, if it has not climbed it already. Having achieved these pedestal recognitions the onus now rests with MAG to stay the cause and carry on the forward match with an even greater sense of purpose and urgency for country and humanity. Well done and good luck!

The writer is a Ghanaian, a resident of Liverpool and a freelance writer