The government has been urged to adopt the use of local languages in the dissemination of policies and programs to help the ordinary Ghanaian understand and act accordingly.
According to the clergy who are advocating for this, many policies and messages are not reaching the intended audience due to language barriers, hence the need to adopt a new strategy that will be best understood by the masses.
According to research, 51 percent of Ghanaians are not in the reading category, a significant number that makes understanding government policies difficult for the ordinary Ghanaian.
Even though the National Commission for Civic Education and its partners try to use other local languages to help disseminate government programs and policies, their outputs sometimes do not trickle down to the ordinary person.
In the first week of the limited voter registration exercise, a number of political parties in the Eastern Region blamed the low turnout on the lack of education and sensitization using languages best understood by the local people to help get the youth out to take part in the exercise.
Other government programs and initiatives have also failed to live up to expectations largely due to the language barrier and the mode of communication.
A lecturer at Pentecost University and District Pastor for Adenta Church of Pentecost, Pastor Emmanuel Oppong Donkor, speaking as the chairman at the launch of the Akwapim Twi Old Testament Audio Bible in Aburi, Eastern Region by Theovision International, emphasized the importance of using local dialects to disseminate political policies and messages.
“Many policies and messages are not reaching the intended audience due to language barriers, hence the need to ensure that everyone has access to vital information. Sometimes good government policies are brought forward to be implemented. But the languages used in channeling this information become the problem because the majority of Ghanaians do not understand English or read and write, and at the end of the day, you realize that the ordinary citizen does not understand.”
The President of Theovision International, Rev. Dr. Theodore Mensah Asare, a nonprofit Christian organization behind the audio Bible initiative, echoed similar sentiments, advocating for the holistic use of local dialects. He stressed that it’s time for the country’s leaders to translate key policy and program documents into audio formats for those who cannot read.
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He remarked on the importance of integrating local dialects into daily life activities, promoting cultural preservation and spiritual growth, adding that the organization has produced audio versions of scriptures in 43 different languages in Ghana and 473 across Africa.
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