Oobake: An Akwaaba of sorts — blending warmth and wonder, this is your invitation into a world of cultural depth, mystery, and shared heritage.
From 1975 when Osibisa released the iconic ‘Welcome Home’ song, we have all learnt to memorise the lyrics, often introducing strange words into the body of the song, as we did with some timeless Daddy Lumba hitsongs.
‘Welcome Home’ was a global sensation, appealing to music lovers everywhere; from London to Axim.
It didn’t matter how ‘welcome’ translated into our ethnic languages; the meaning of the greeting in English was sufficient to communicate the message of the song:
“You have been gone it’s an empty home
Come on back when you are ready to know
You are always welcome”
Fante origins
After 50 years, Ghanaians are ‘ready to know’ the meaning of the greeting expression ‘Welcome’ and whether it sounds better in Gagaare, Akwapim, Ga or Asante Twi.
When we reach a verdict, we shall replace every signage or public inscription with the most likeable, culturally appropriate, and nationally acceptable translation of the English Greeting with a Ghanaian word or phrase.
This is not a needless tribal matter of sociolinguistics; it is a fitting response to Osibisa’s call to come back home when we are ready to know.
To start with, the name ‘Osibisa’ comes from the Fante word ‘osibisaba’, which means ‘Highlife’.
With four of the seven member Osibisa band coming from Ghana, we expected them to sing the ‘Welcome Home’ song in Fante or Asanti Twi.
If they did, the world would have known the song as ‘Akwaaba’, or ‘Oobake’, which would have popularized one of our local languages around the globe.
That would have solved the present ‘Akwaaba’ battle between the Ga people and the rest of Ghana.
‘Akwaaba’ greets you at our airports, national events, traditional festivals and other public events.
At national and diplomatic ceremonies conducted in English, it is not out of place for a master of ceremonies to condeswitch and welcome the audience in Asanti Twi as ‘Akwaaba’, and even international audiences are expected to nod or exclaim to indicate comprehension.
The people of Ga
Suddenly, the people of Ga (comprising the Ga Mashie, La, Osu, Teshie, Nungua, and Tema) have introduced a contest to retire Asante Twi (Akwaaba) as the greeting at our International airport and replace it with ‘Oobake’, Ga for ‘Welcome’.
They do not seem to care if the airport at Kumasi welcomes the Asantes in Asante Twi while the Tamale airport screams ‘Maraaba’ or ‘Amaraaba’ in Dagbani.
In Cape Coast, they may choose ‘Bonjour’ to sound different from everybody.
The Volta and Oti regions would maintain ‘Woezor’. On Ga soils where all international flights get their first landing kiss, ‘Oobake’ is a good welcome home.
The ‘Oobake’ campaign is more than a language contest to torpedo a popular word and replace it with another; it is a contest for a place at the table, to scoop a fair share of what has been denied, overlooked, taken away or simply stolen from the Gas.
It is about lands, property, national positions, political office, scholarships and other things that are decided in Accra but have eluded the true owners of the land.
Like Pastor Martin Niemoller who said nothing when they came for the communists and the socialists because he was neither, the Gas said nothing when the Asantes and Kyebi businessmen bought all the prized lands in Accra.
They said nothing when the Bono and Okwawu people erected spare parts and garments stores on their lands.
They watched and said nothing when Fantes and Dagombas pushed ahead to steal all the scholarship slots for A-list schools in Ghana and abroad.
They did not say much when no political party ever picked a Ga for President or Vice-President.
The Gas have been quiet for too long, looking on like a disinherited nephew in the wilderness when his deceased uncle left him a fortune.
Sankofa in Toronto
The Gas seemed to have gone to sleep when the late Sir John of the NPP willed hectares of Accra lands to his family.
Forever. They have watched landguards sponsored by foreigners fight them to vacate their family lands at Twii Blew and Otu Blohum Street.
Finally, the Gas want to speak up about what belongs to them and reclaim what is lost, and ‘Oobake’ seems like a good place to start.
The Oobake campaign is timely and seems to have found vindication in the truism that the only constant in life is change. Last week, Ghanaians and many black people of African and Caribbean descent gathered in downtown Toronto, when the Government of Toronto officially launched the renaming of Younge-Dundas Street as Sankofa Square.
For 23 years, the people of Toronto have known and called one of their favorite intersections in the heart of the city as Dundas.
If the Canadians can go back to Sankofa, Ghanaians can unlearn ‘Akwaaba’ for ‘Oobake’.
Like Osibisaba, Akwaaba is from the Fantes (Woako Aba), for ‘You went and you came’.
If ‘Akwaaba’ has been able to cement its linguistic hegemony in our consciousness and secured a utilitarian place in our public lexicon, then it is dynamic enough to accommodate a few additions or a complete change. People always adapt to new things.
Ghanaians in South Korea learnt to say ‘Annyeong haseyo’ for ‘Hello,’ which translates into ‘Are you at peace?’
International travellers to Ghana should not struggle to say ‘Oobake’ or ‘Akwaaba Oobake’ if the Ghana Tourism Authority decides to adopt both words for an Emphatic Ghanaian Greeting!
Tissues Of The Issues
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