After
failing in his bid to become the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa
North, Victor Smith was recently in the news.
According to Mr Victor Smith, he didn't appreciate people referring
to him as “Honorable Victor Smith”. He preferred to be addressed by his proper title “Ambassador”, never mind the fact that he's
no longer the Ambassador to the Czech Republic or anywhere else for
that matter. In his opinion, he was above the title “Honorable”.
Up until then, I didn't even know there were title rankings.
Ghanaians
love their titles. The only other group of people I know who love
titles as much or perhaps more than us are our neighbors the
Nigerians. Ghanaian love titles so much they make up titles where
there are none and often get offended if they aren't addressed with
those titles.
A Nigerian Title: Friend of the Governor
Self
made titles seem to be the specialty of Pastors who form their own
churches. Gone were the days when one had to spend long years in
Bible School just to become a Pastor. The Pastor then had to serve
for some 10 years to become a Reverend and the titles got better only
with years. These days any post pubescent young man with a
congregation of 5 can call himself a Reverend. Some become Reverends
overnight. Then there are the Reverend Doctors, Right Reverends,
Right Reverend Doctors, Bishop, Archbishops, Apostles, Prophets etc.
However,
the acquisition of titles overnight is not the sole monopoly of
'Mushroom' Pastors. In Ghana, we have a Comedian called Bishop, a
boxer called Professor and in the neighborhood I grew up in, a
cobbler called Doctor.
The
people most sensitive to titles are those who actually earned them
especially academically. You can't blame them, it's not easy studying for so long. In the University, there was a certain lecturer in a
certain faculty who had 3 PhDs and also happened to be a chief. His
students called him Dr. Dr. Dr. Nana X (where X replaces his surname
and Nana is the title for chiefs). If you ever happen to go to a
Ghanaian program and the Chairperson is being introduced, all his
titles have to be mentioned and if possible, where he got them from. If
the MC forgets to mention one title, the chairperson will correct
that mistake upon assuming his role. He would say something like,
“The MC didn't mention it but I also have a PhD in Pharmacology
from Birmingham University in the UK”.
This whole title craze is not restricted to people but also to institutions. It's hard to find a Junior High School these days that is not an International School or International School Complex and every nursery school is a Montessori. Every Church is International, every shop a Super Market, every chop bar serves continental dishes and the list goes on. Everyone is claiming one title or the other.
Titles
are part a part of the Ghanaian upbringing. Calling people who are older
than you or in higher positions by their names is taboo. You have to
call them Uncle or Auntie if they are significantly older than you. You
put a “Brother, Bro or Sister” before their names if they are a
few years older. In the secondary schools, you could be seriously
punished for not adding “Senior” to a senior's name. I remember
calling my Dad by his nickname one day. Unknown to me a concerned
citizen heard this and even though my Dad didn't mind, this concerned
citizen took offense and later gave me a long lecture on being
respectful to adults. The lecture included random Bible verses and
Ephesians 6:1-3 was quoted more than a few times.
The
irony/hypocrisy of this Blog post isn't lost to me. My name is Dela
but most people refer to me as Efo Dela. “Efo” being a title of
the Ewes for an older or influential male.