Laws are made for man and not man for the laws, so by extention, laws need to be understood by the target group. This adage unfortunately needs some amendments for Ghana’s sake, because here, the laws seem as if they are enacted for use by lawyers, judges and Parliamentarians rather than the ordinary Ghanaian.
This however may be inadvertent but given the apathy of the authorities for this group in this regard, how far from the truth would this be. So if next time you hear of a commission of a crime, do have some sympathy for the offender for their ignorance of the law; even though this according to the law that “they” (Pardon my inability to mention them for fear of attracting contempt) alone know, is no excuse.
Apart from our poor attitude towards sharing information, a nation which has been struggling with the foreign English language at all levels in our educational system, not to talk of school dropouts, has all such vital knowledge written in English without any attempt to translate them for the benefit of the majority non-English speakers. They therefore fall foul of the law before they are told to seek the services of lawyers, whose transportation to court alone challenges their avreage clients can ill afford.
For democracy which has laws as the main ingredient for governance, it is incumbent on any right-thinking government to facilitate public awareness and knowledge acquisition. If the multiplicity of dialects is inhibiting this intevention, simplifying communication could help. It is my conviction that a united Ghana needs ONE (local) LANGUAGE in addition to English for this facilitation, since over sixty percent of Ghanaians already speak and even more understand one of these local languages so far.
Let us all go for ONE GHANA AND ONE (local in addition to English) LANGUAGE ar least as a first step in a better education and information for the Ghanaian public. Then the saying that “Ghanaians are good at enacting laws but very bad at applying them,” will change. Something that important has to be very accessible to all instead of reserving them for only the legal profession.
Is it not a shame that a proud and a model African nation like Ghana tells the world that her language is English (the language of her colonial masters), nearly fifty years after her independence! Patriots should support the ONE GHANA AND ONE LANGUAGE to better communicate and understand our laws and ourselves for real democratic governance for national development.