On the third page of Daniel Mengara’s, Mema, the Gabonese novelist said, “The past told him why his present was as it was. The past was the key to his present. He could unlock the truths of the present only when he used his past as the key to those truths. The same was true with regard to the future. For, if anyone does not have a past, then one cannot have a present. And if one has no present, then the doors to the future are locked”. (Mema 2003: 3).
It is this and a saying in my native Ewe language, “Kaxoxoawonuewogbeayeyeawo do,” which translates as, ‘it is onto the end of the old ropes that new ones are woven’. (Anyidoho 2003:3) that have continued to shape my argument for a backward or homeward looking agenda.
As Africans, if there is something we have been overtly successful at, it is our love and praise for foreign goods, our praise for the finished products of the Western world. Although a lot of people have agreed to this wrongdoing and the blame game has gone on but what has been our effort at solving this age-old problem? Are we prepared and ready to walk the talk?
Most people are quick to refer to our inability to produce toothpicks, furniture, stationery etc. when there is an abundance of the natural resources needed in Africa. That is true. However, in most developed countries where these products are made, their attitude towards technical education is different from ours. Technical courses are not ironically described as courses for students who are not academically good. In fact, in some parts of the world, it is mandatory for students to acquire certain skills in addition to the theoretical education they receive. Hence, talent and skills are harnessed to the full. The results of that is what we see when we enter the malls in other countries; what we use a lot of foreign exchange importing into Ghana.
Governments have made it a point to place value on the importance of technical education but again, are parents willing to encourage their wards to take careers in carpentry, masonry, painting etc. without the ward having to plead and pray? What about the teachers, are they doing their best to encourage these?
Beyond technical skills, the issue of language is another. There have been various reforms that have gone to support or otherwise, the use of local languages as a means of teaching. Let’s leave that for a second and concentrate on how some young people are shy to be associated with their L1- their first languages. To the linguist, Edward Sapir, “language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values characteristic of a community; it also represents a fundamental expression of social identity. Sapir said: “the mere fact of a common speech serves as a peculiar potent symbol of the social solidarity of those who speak the language.”
In short, language retention helps maintain feelings of cultural kinship”. (Remarks by the Honourable David Kilgour, P.C., M.P. Edmonton Southeast Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa. Southern Alberta Heritage Language Association Calgary, October 9, 1999). Before you impose the English on a child as an L1, remember this.
Looking at these two gaps in our “neo social” set up as examples, it is clear why we have some of the issues we have as a continent. Religion is another hindrance in some cases to our inability to see the connection of the past to the present. Different opinions can be given but in all sects, as a matter of fact, people who have gone to take a bit of their past have moved on successfully. In literature, Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo and more recently, Chimamanda Ngozi are examples.
Let us not forget the mythical sankofa bird among the Akan people of Ghana. The movement of the sankofa bird is characterised by flying forward while looking back. Without the Sankofa looking back, it is not able to move forward.
This captures the idea that there is something valuable in the past that needs to be reclaimed. We should rethink it as one of the policies that will help in the development of the African Continent.
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The writer is the Operations Lead, Moohey Ghana Limited.