Top moments Ghanaian public figures ‘murdered’ the English language

As a colony of the British empire, arguably, Ghana is one of the best Anglophone or English-speaking countries in Africa.

Most parents start to teach their wards how to speak English from the early stages of their lives. In schools, the official language for teaching and learning is English.

So chances are that almost everyone who has received formal education can express themselves with the English language. Even for those without formal education, most can express themselves in pidgin, or the street version of English.

What this means is that a significant percentage of Ghanaians can express themselves in English, however, occasionally, we get one or two persons who slip.

Nana Aba Anamoah

Seasoned journalist and television personality, Nana Aba Anamoah is very known for her fluency and precision in the use of the English language.

She is also very popular for picking up on people who make grammatical errors when speaking English. However, not even the ‘English girl’s prefect’ would be left out of this list.

Giving her introductory speech at the 18th edition of Sarkodie’s Rapperholic concert, Nana Aba Anamoah said, “Welcome to the biggest continent in Africa” when she actually meant to say, “Welcome to the biggest concert in Africa”.
Internet users jumped on the opportunity to troll her.

Serwaa Amihere

Number two on our list is the beautiful GHOne presenter, Serwaa Amihere. During the peak of the novel coronavirus in Ghana, Serwaa Amihere in an attempt to create awareness of the safety protocols given by the Ghana Health Service to control the spread of the deadly virus ‘killed’ the English language.

She said, “wash your hands under running SOAP and water”, instead of “wash your hands under running water with soap.”

The comment led to a lot of trolls and even her Godmother, Nana Aba Anamoah didn’t spare her. When Serwaa posted a video where she was listening to music, Nana Aba Anamoah sarcastically tweeted, “EI SOAPY. You dey jammmm under running music”.

Wendy Shay

Ghanaian musician, Wendy Shay is the third on the list. While trying to sing the popular Ghanaian song, ‘Ancient of days’, the songstress took English to the slaughterhouse when she said, “Ancient of Days, how old as you are” instead of “Ancient of days, as old as you are….”

As expected, she was also not spared by fans as she was trolled from every end and angle.

Chairman Wontumi

The Ashanti Regional Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi is famed for butchering the English language.

Here are examples of times Chairman Wontumi, a product of Prempeh College, one of the top secondary schools in the country, murdered the English language.

1. Woman born me but not all woman is woman.

2. The job would also not have been complete without the efforts of all and “sundural” (sundry).

3. Because of the covid, the president pass a law or pass a decree that no one can “conclumarate” or “agrumarate” in any place.

4. Me di3, I choose to do the doggy job and have my money for my money to speak English for me

5. Whom am I?

6. We have something called “transleletion” (translation)