It is refreshing and, indeed, exciting to pay recognition to the momentum by some parliamentarians to render submissions in indigenous Ghanaian languages on the floor of the Parliament of Ghana in recent times.
The Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education (FGLE) of the University of Education (UEW), Ajumako Campus, as a mandated lead stakeholder in the teaching and learning, promotion, preservation, research and policy issues regarding indigenous Ghanaian languages, wishes to add its voice in acknowledging and commending the Rt. Hon. Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin and the parliamentary fraternity for such a great inspiration and nationalistic gesture.
As it were, Ohene Kwame of the Asante Akyem North Constituency and Matthew Nyindam of the Kpandai Constituency blazed the trail circa February 5, 2025, by deploying Twi and Likpakpaanl (also known as Konkomba), respectively, during proceedings on the floor of the house. This heartwarming and exemplary act was further bolstered on February 21, 2025, when, in commemoration of the International Mother-tongue Day, several other Members of Parliament took turns to make submissions on the floor of parliament, using various indigenous Ghanaian languages.
Recently, the Member of Parliament for the Ahanta West Constituency, Mavis Kuukua Bissue has also called for the revitalisation of the Ahanta language, underscoring the fact that policy makers are gradually getting to recognise the importance of our indigenous Ghanaian languages.
It was even more refreshing to see the Hon Member of Parliament call for the inclusion of Ahanta in the mainstream educational curriculum.
While the FGLE, UEW appreciates this initiative, we also deem it most fitting to share further insights on the potentialities regarding a sustained future use of indigenous Ghanaian languages in the conduct of parliamentary business in Ghana.
First and foremost, mother-tongues and their use are found to be among the most effective emblems and expressions of identity, sense of pride and nationalism, if properly upheld. Therefore, a respected national body like the legislature creates the desirable atmosphere for these productive outcomes if it recognises, subscribes to and sets the pace for the use of our indigenous languages.
This comes in handy when one considers the fact that parliamentarians are role models par excellence at the local and national stages of our societal fabric, especially for the up-and-coming youth. Research on the Ghanaian linguistic ecology (e.g., Ahadzi et al., 2015; Bisilki, 2025; Dako & Quarcoo, 2017) has consistently shown that, whereas attitudes towards indigenous Ghanaian languages are worsening by the day, English continues to be zealously embraced by the people.
Aside from the de facto privileges and opportunities that English grants internationally, a prime reason for the seemingly intractable shift towards English to the neglect of the indigenous languages in Ghana is the fact that Ghanaians of high calibre and reputable Ghanaian institutions have failed to show the necessary commitment in building recognition for the indigenous Ghanaian languages by not using these languages at the very least.
It is carried in sections of the media that the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament is leading an initiative to make possible the statutory provision of indigenous Ghanaian language translations of parliamentary proceedings. This report, if true, will be one of the most progressive ideas in our national life and forward march towards self-definition, self-reliance, legislation, true decolonisation and inclusive governance.
The accessibility of parliamentary proceedings and processes in the languages that our ordinary citizens best understand is the surest way to guarantee their appreciation and sense of participation in the core of our democratic set-up.
From a wider global perspective, this step will have favourable implications in the press for affirmative actions that seek to reduce various forms of marginalisation in Global Southern contexts.
In this regard, we sincerely encourage the Rt. Hon. Speaker and his team to press on to make this conceived milestone a reality. It is an act that promises to remain indelibly admirable in the heart of posterity. The blueprint for multilingual parliamentary debate and legislation is provided in the cases of Kenya, South Africa, Finland, Canada, Hong Kong, Wales and New Zealand, among others (Murphy, 2020), for Ghana to find a guide in rolling out its own.
Recent debates on the educational fronts of Ghana apparently leave the study of indigenous Ghanaian languages, particularly at the basic and second cycle educational levels, on the margins. Any resolutions to make indigenous Ghanaian languages assume centre stage in national affairs cannot properly shape up, if these languages are not first studied in school, where their necessary development as systems of communication and the training of experts in them can thrive.
Additionally, the use of these languages, which actually serve as the primary languages of most Ghanaian learners, in itself facilitates learning. Consequently, the FGLE would like to implore Parliament to consider and support ways of making the study of indigenous Ghanaian languages a priority in schools in Ghana.
Finally, the FGLE as a body of top-notch specialist faculty in the indigenous Ghanaian languages and more would like to state that our doors are open for synergies and collaborations with the Parliament of Ghana and any other agencies that may take an interest in matters relating to the development, study, research or use of these languages.
In the specific cases of Ghanaian language teaching and translation services, it is worth noting that the FGLE, over the years, has trained and continues to train and graduate thousands of competent students in at least fourteen indigenous Ghanaian languages spoken across the Southern and Northern sectors of Ghana, who can be engaged to deliver such services.
We conclude with a quote from one of the great sons of Africa, Nelson Mandela, who once said, ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes into his head; if you talk to him in his own language, that goes into his heart’. Let us protect and promote our identity, and that is our indigenous Ghanaian languages.
Thank you.
Dean (on behalf of Faculty)
Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education
University of Education, Winneba
Ajumako Campus
Contacts:
Assoc. Prof. Samuel A. Issah 0205654140
Assoc. Prof. Regina Oforiwah Caesar 0244412866
Assoc. Prof. Kwasi Adomako 0248759728
Assoc. Prof. Abraham Kwesi Bisilki 0550449453
References
Ahadzi, S., Ameka, F. K., & Essegbey, J. (2015). Language use at home and performance in English composition in multilingual Ghana. Afrikanistik Aegyptologie Online, 1–21.
Bisilki, K. A. (2025). Online linguistic landscaping and indigenous Ghanaian languages in multilingual Ghana. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2025.2465601
Dako, K., & Quarcoo, M. A. (2017). Attitudes towards English language in Ghana. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 28(1), 20–30.
Murphy, J. R. (2020). UNSW Law Journal, 43(3), 1006–1040.
