In 1996 Kwame Mainu was summoned to a meeting in Oxford. Along the way, he spoke with a Customs agent about recent trips to Ghana.
“Tam’s in luck,” David said as he weaved through the stream of vehicles speeding down the freeway. ‘Why do you say that?’ Kwame asked, surprised by this unprofessional outburst that revealed David’s personal feelings.
He handles all travel to Ghana.
‘You’d like to have a chance, right?’
We all would, but only Tam goes.
He’s the only one who speaks Twi.
‘Yes, but is that really necessary?’
‘It’s not essential, but it helps, especially if you need to talk to illiterate and rural people.’
‘How much English is spoken in Ghana?’ David asked. “It is the official language, the language of government and most newspapers and books, and it is the language of education in schools, except for the first year of primary school in the Ashanti region,” Kwame explained.
‘But what about the people on the street; Do you hear a lot of English?
“Most of the time you hear Twi with a lot of English words mixed in.”
‘Can you give me an example?’
Once we were waiting for a meeting to start and a person looked at his watch and said, “Hora ben yebe starti?” I guess you don’t need to speak Twi to understand that question.
‘No, but is the general level of English improving?’
‘I’m afraid not. There has been a general decline in the level of English speaking, especially since the introduction of junior high schools, called JSS or Jerry’s Special Schools after Jerry Rawlings, the former military dictator and now president.’
‘What is the problem?’
“I guess it’s basically a shortage of teachers and large classes, as well as teachers who need to have a second job or a private business to earn enough to support themselves and their families.”
‘So there are proportionately fewer English speakers than before?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Then Tam might be even more necessary than in the past.’ David pondered aloud, seeing his chances of being posted to Ghana dwindling. “If Tam’s role is to gather information from common conversations on the streets and in public places, his twi will be very useful,” Kwame said, “but I must admit I really couldn’t understand why he was in Ghana recently.”
“I have Leon’s permission to tell you,” said David, “He was there to try to determine the extent to which hard drugs are being sold on the streets and, if sales are going up, to try to find out who is selling them.” ‘
‘Yeah, why didn’t I think of that? You may come across many situations where people will think they can speak freely in Twi and the Oboroni (Europeans) will not listen to them.’
‘So you like the idea?’
“Yes, and that explains why Tam can pretend to know less or more Twi depending on the situation.
The old man is brighter than he seems, huh?
‘You are telling me!’
