I would like to first and foremost congratulate all the political parties in Ghana and Ghanaians in general for their maturity and professionality showed at the last general elections. This has given us some hope that we can forge ahead in unity and understanding, and achieve something better for the generations to come if not the present generation.
My simple idea is that for Ghana to move forward we need to be proactive, and try as much as posible to identify some of the problems that we might face as a nation and find solutions to them. One of such problems is a common language for the whole of Ghana. I mean a native Ghanaian language not a foreign language for that matter. Governments upon governments have been comparing the economy of our country to that of Korea, Malasia, Thailand, Singapore, India and a host of them with the hope that we catch up with them because we either gained independence around the same time or we were better off than some of these nations at the time of independence. But there is something our politicians do not know or do not want to know because of political expediency or lack of political will to persue that important agenda. And that is all of these nations have their own native languages as the number one language which they use right from primary one, they use these languages in all subjects including science and maths, which make them have better understanding of these subjects right from the early age.
This I believe is the more reason why Africa is not moving forward, or fast enough as compared to the other continents. Because Africans (Ghanaians included)are the only people who are not being educated in our own languages. And I can't understand why our politicians much educated as they are, have refused to recognise this simple logic all along, and sometimes I find it very difficult to understand why a pass in english language is required before one can gain admission into our niversities. English is just a language like Asante or Twi language, so if some one can read, write and analyse the Twi or any of our native languages the person could also be considerd as well, but because we don't see our native languages as important and more importantly don't use these languages in any or along side any other subjects the were rendered usless and unproductive. I don't blame these universities because these cultures were handed over to them by the colonial masters which they themselves cannot do anything about it. It is up to our politicians to do something about that.
Ghana has great schools and has prodused great personalities, academics, economics, engioneers, professors, doctors, scientists, world class politicians and even a Secretary General of the united nations. But why can't we move this tiny contry which has all the human and natural resorces to move a contry forward? Learning someone else's language is not easy and therefore puts one aback and disadvantaged as compared to someone who is using his own languages in his education. Some of you who attend schools in England and the USA will attest to this fact. We shall always play second fiddle to the English or the American if we continue to use English instead of our own languages in our schools forever. I therefore suggest that since Twi or Akan is the commonly spoken language in Ghana, and spoken by more than sixty percent of the population the government should task our universities to come up with a simplified Twi language that could probably be a fusion of all the akan languages in the next ten years, and compile a dictionary to be used in all schools throughout the country. With the simplified language and dictionary Ghana could enter into agreement with Microsoft to easly come out with the Twi verssion of windows to be used in Ghana and the world over. It will also offer Ghanaians the opotunity to write computer programs in our own language.
In short Ghanaian children should and must be educated in their own languages, I believe we can set the pace for the rest of Africa like we have always done. It is a chalenge but Ghana will be the winner. Another thing I will suggest is compursory education for all Ghanaian children, even if education cannot be free we don't have to wait for education to be free before we send our children to school. It is the right of the child to be educated, and parents should be punished for tampering with the right of these innocent children after all one has to be held responsible for his ireponsibilities. We should not allow tribal politics to draw the nation back. Let us unite ourselves with the akan language and forge ahead as one people. I don't in anyway look down upon any other tribe or language, I only believe Ghana will be better united when we all speak the same language.
United we stand.
Long live Ghana.

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