We have lost our national heritage – Dr Aryee

Dr Joyce Aryee, the Former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said Ghana had lost its national heritage in many ways by adopting too much foreign cultures and values.

She said even in the construction sector it was foreign materials that were used to build infrastructure adding; “we live in houses that cannot function without electricity or air condition”.

Dr Aryee said this at the 2016 Congress of the Ghana Writers’ Association in Accra on Sunday.

Speaking on the theme; “Preserving our Heritage through Writing,” Dr Aryee said as an advanced and civilised country writing should be a major characteristic of the development agenda.

She urged students to be proud of their local language and that they would surely speak foreign languages better if they could speak their local languages very well.

Touching on the importance of heritage preservation, Dr Aryee, who was the guest speaker, said heritage could provide time tested solution for conflict resolution and allow the vulnerable in society to participate in development activities.

Dr Aryee said the nation needed a heritage preservation plan to keep its achievements for the benefit of future generations.

She recommended that the nation produced more books and electronic libraries to encourage reading adding that physical books gave people the urge to write and do better appreciation of the content.

She wished the Association a happy 59th anniversary celebration and urged the citizenry to support the publishing industry since publishing was an essential part of national development.

Mr Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, the President of the Association, in an interview with the GNA, said the congress was to find the way forward in preserving the native languages and re-elect new executives.

“The country cannot embark on democracy if its people cannot read and write,” he said.

Source: GNA