Mike Oquaye, the immediate past Speaker of Parliament, has called for a stop to the polarization of Ghana’s television space with telenovelas.
He has called for an immediate ban on the addition of Twi voiceovers to telenovelas.
Mike Oqauye has argued that the use of the Twi language as voiceovers for these telenovelas would gradually erode Ghana’s culture to the point where the younger generation would embrace and accept foreign norms and practices.
He added that he feels very concerned about the fact that the Twi language is being used to promote foreign culture to locals.
Speaking at the inaugural memorial lecture of Okyenheneba Dr Jones Akwasi Amoako Atta Ofori-Atta at the University of Ghana, Mike Oquaye entreated scriptwriters and media houses to stop, as a matter of urgency, adding Twi voiceovers to telenovelas.
“I beg our actors and scriptwriters to come out with Ghanaian films. I get sick anytime I hear Twi words or Ga words pushed through some European or Asian lips. The practise should be stopped if we should develop as a people.”
“These are the things that unmake a nation. It can never happen in Malaysia, it can never happen in India. It can never happen in any of the Asian countries,” he added.
Mike Oqauye, in the past, had called for the total disbandment of the showing of telenovelas on Ghana’s screens. According to him, it did not help the younger generation by imbibing in them unacceptable ways of life that would alienate Ghana’s indigenous cultures.
The current Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, also argued that telenovelas are harmful to the Ghanaian culture, especially when they have started to corrupt the morals of many women.