Culture activist calls for urgent action to reclaim Ghana’s fading traditions

Culture activist Wenawome Duriyem Aborah has called for deliberate and urgent efforts to preserve Ghana’s indigenous cultural practices, warning that the country risks losing an important part of its identity if traditional values continue to be neglected.

Speaking on the Big Mike Breakfast Show on Tuesday, September 1, Aborah said culture remained a critical part of what defined and identified a people.

He acknowledged that some traditional practices had rightly been abandoned because of their negative effects on society, but expressed concern that several positive practices that once strengthened communities were also gradually disappearing.

According to him, indigenous naming systems, traditional foods, local music, drumming, dancing and other communal practices are losing their relevance as foreign lifestyles increasingly influence Ghanaian communities.

“Whatever it is, you can copy, but you can never be. You can’t be the original,” he said.

Aborah therefore urged communities to reconnect with their indigenous ways of life and attach greater value to the cultural practices handed down by their ancestors.

“It is high time we look at the photocopy, leave that photocopy aside, and pick the indigenous way of life, the cultural values that have been bestowed and left for us,” he added.

He also expressed concern about the increasing commercialisation of some cultural practices that were previously shared freely within communities.

Aborah said people were now sometimes required to pay traditional performers to participate in cultural activities at ceremonies such as marriages and funerals.

“Why should our cultural identity be sold? Just as the white man came to take us away or take us to go and sell, now we have to be buying our own tradition in our own backyard,” he questioned.

He further raised concerns about the declining use of indigenous languages, noting that some people associated speaking foreign languages with intelligence and social status.

Aborah disclosed that efforts were being made through Kacstone Records, a music and logistics label he manages, to support the preservation and promotion of indigenous languages.

He said the initiative included plans to translate selected educational materials into local languages to make them more accessible while promoting the continued use of indigenous languages.

He further revealed that books written in Kasem and focusing on traditional practices had been donated to schools in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality and the Kassena-Nankana West District.

Aborah urged parents, traditional leaders, community members and young people to take an active role in preserving Ghana’s cultural heritage and transmitting indigenous knowledge to future generations.

He stressed that protecting the country’s cultural identity required a collective effort to ensure that valuable traditions were not lost to changing lifestyles and external influences.

Mike 105.3FM I Navrongo | Elizabeth Apusaama

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