Poor patronage of Ghanaian books forcing local authors out of business – Queen Mother

The Paramount Queen of the Ada Traditional Area, Naana Kabukour Dagojo Domaaley says the relatively little patronage of books authored by Ghanaians is rendering local authors useless and unemployed.

According to her, educational institutions in the country prefer to purchase foreign books to those authored by Ghanaians, a situation which to her is putting the authors out of business and eventually killing the industry.

Naana Dumaaley said this at the launch of a reading competition project dubbed "Mo kane ni" at Kasseh in the Ada East District. The project which is her initiative aims to whip up the reading spirit among pupils in the two districts of the Ada Traditional Area.

In an interview with Atinkaonline, Naana Kabukour Dagojo Domaaley said it is unfortunate that a lot of pupils in the area find it difficult to speak and comprehend both the English and Ghanaian languages thereby affecting their general academic performance. This she noted has prompted her to institute the initiative to imbibe reading habit among the pupils reverse the unpleasant trend. The Ada Queen mother promised to continue with similar initiative which will be christened "mo ngma ni" meaning write.

Naana Domaaley stated that 90 percent of books meant for the competition were sorted from those written by Ghanian authors. This is a quest to champion the purchase of Ghanaian authored books as a move to boost market for their books. "It is pathetic that our pupils only know of the Cinderella and White Snows to the neglect of the Ghanian authored book" she emphasised.

Responding to whether the initiative is only about English, the Ada Queen mother observed that the Dangme language in an integral aspect of the initiative, calling on the GaDangme authors to endeavour to write books in GaDangme for the budding generation to read.

The Deputy Minister of Transport and Member of Parliament for Tema East, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover implored parents and guardians to desist from over burdening their wards with house chores but grant them enough space to learn, particularly reading to broaden their horizon.

Titus Glover who donated unspecified amount of money to support the laudable initiative charged all GaDangme people to assist to sustain it. The law maker pledged to mobilise all GaDangme parliamentarians to come to the aid of the excellent step.

Present at the launch were a former minister of state, Dr. Gheysika Agambila, a retired surgeon and author, Professor Lade Wosornu, religious and traditional leaders, representatives from the the two District Assemblies and Education Directorates as well as corporate Ghana.

Pupils are expected to participate in the inter schools, circuit and district reading competition where winners between the two districts will be awarded with encouraging prices at this year's Asafotufiami festival.