GaDangmes must unite for development - E.T. Mensah

GaDangmes must unite if they are to achieve development and improve the living standards of their people, Enoch Teye Mensah, Council of State Member for the Greater Accra Region, has advised.

He said the GaDangme State, like many other groups in the country, was blessed with enormous resources, both natural and human, however, it remained one of the most underdeveloped and deprived groups in the country.

Mr Mensah attributed the situation to the seeming lack of unity and leadership among the rank and file of the GaDangme State, particularly in charting a common cause.

“We need to unite as a people,” he said, adding: “We are the only group in this country that after the installation a chief or queen-mother, another group rises up and begin to agitate. We rather spend the time we are supposed to plan for our development on resolving chieftaincy disputes,” he added.

Mr Mensah, the former Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, said this on Wednesday at the launch of the 2021 GaDangme Homecoming (GDHC) in Accra on the theme: "Harnessing GaDangme Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development."

The event, slated for August 9, 2021, seeks to bring GaDangmes in and outside Ghana together to address pertinent issues confronting them.

It is in fulfilment of earlier pledges to celebrate GaDangmes, foster unity for sustainable development, as well as reclaim assets and restore their heritage and priced traditions.

It further seeks to honour illustrious leadership, including chiefs, opinion leaders and achievers within the GaDangme communities.

Mr Mensah, also a former Minister of Education, bemoaned the gradual expunging of the GaDangme Language from the curriculum of some schools in the Greater Accra Region.

He said, by law, each school was required to teach the local language of the people within which it was established.

That had not been done by some schools located within some GaDangme communities, he noted.

“In our schools, we have also realised that the Ga Language is going extinct. However, per our laws every school is required to teach the local language within which it is located but some schools within the GaDangme State are not teaching the GaDangme Language,” he said.

He, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education to immediately take steps to curb the trend and avert any possible extinction of local languages, specifically GaDangme.

Mr Mensah commended the GDHC committee for the initiative.

Naa Tsotsoo Soyoo I, the Global President of the GDHC, said GaDangmes, apart from contributing to the 3.5 billion dollar annual remittance inflows from the diaspora into Ghana, could also boast of rich culture, high level of intellectual properties capacity, multi-disciplinary skills and experiences, as well as abundant resources such as the sea and land.

“Our climate is conducive to various enterprises and we have a ready workforce in young energetic and hardworking people,” she said, reiterating the importance to harness the resources, particularly in the fast-changing global world, to meet the needs of the people.

“The starting point for any organisation towards development is to first look within and use what is immediately available. And to us, this will not only provide us with a firm foundation for bargaining with external partners but also demonstrates our commitment to our very own development.”

Naa Soyoo urged GaDangmes to nurse the growth of their State to facilitate development.

Mr Henry Obedekah, a GDHC Committee Member, said the Group was engaging with relevant stakeholders for the establishment of a GaDangme Resource Centre to promote the teaching and learning of the Language and customs.