Why 'Anansekrom' won’t fly for Ghana’s movie Industry

I have read with interest Anthony Osarfo’s piece on naming the Ghana movie industry Anansekrom. As a matter of fact, his reasons for suggesting the name sit very well with me.
He outlines 5 reasons for his name suggestion:
1.      That Ananse is a legendary fiction character around whom most of Ghana’s folktales.
2.      That Anansekrom is originally Ghanaian
3.      That Ghana does not have a name for the industry
4.      That Ghana shouldn’t follow the wood ‘syndrome’
5.      That the name the young ones learn from our past.
I have been a proponent of a name that readily identifies us as Ghanaians and as such if no less an industry than the movie industry is deviating from the hackneyed wood, I can’t help but rejoice. But sincerely the wood has attained a universal acclaim as an identity for a movie industry.

I was very happy when I learnt that the name Ghallywood had been registered as the company name of film maker William Akuffo. At least with that we are saved from that name. My concern is the morpheme Ghally, which I don’t believe has any connection to Ghana. Is it because it starts with ‘G’?

Osarfo’s reasons are plausible. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the Anansekrom proponents will succeed. Certainly it will not happen in this present Ghana. I am not being cynical; I am stating a fact!

My reasons? He writes in his article: ‘Krom, an Akan dialect, literally could stand for country, society, community or any place of human habitat.’ And Ananse certainly is also an Akan name for the legendary spider. Hence Anansekrom literally means Ananse’s habitat. But who is this Ananse character in Ghanaian folklore? Will he enjoy a warm welcome to grace our movie industry?

I have heard series of arguments for and against the relevance of the Ananse folklore in our history. Some argue that the cunning nature of Ananse must not be celebrated, and portraying such cheat as hero in our stories has contributed to the sly nature of most Ghanaians. Such school of thought even celebrates its seemingly extinction in the literary life of Ghanaians and rejoice that children are safe from its wiles. There are others however, who hold the belief that the character is worth celebrating for its wise and tacit nature.

The most worrying issue for me which I know will crop up once any attempt is made to formalise Anansekrom will be the ethnic factor. Issues of Anansekrom being an Akan name cannot be taken for granted. A lot of meanings will be read into the choice of the name. May be recollections of some recent developments in Ghana will help make my point clearer:

Daily Guide, Sep. 27, 2011--- Chiefs of the La Traditional Area have appealed to government especially the Ministry of Tourism to use the Ga word for ‘welcome’ to greet visitors at the Kotoka International Airport instead of ‘Akwaaba,’ the Akan version of the word currently being used.... For a long time, people coming into Ghana have been greeted by the word ‘Akwaaba’ written on a huge sign in front of the airport.

Citifmonline, Sep. 28, 2011--- “The Akwaaba is a certain ethnic language and where the airport is situated belongs to a certain tribe, so what we all need to know is that where the airport is situated now is for the Ga Dangme people… Akwaaba has been projected for a very long time and we need to project other languages so we should just add Mo hee.

“We also want to project our language; Accra is cosmopolitan but belongs to a certain tribe. Nii La is saying they should just add ‘Mo Hee’ to the Akwaaba…or they should remove the Akwaaba and leave only welcome there.”
 And what about the developments that led to the reversal of the name ‘Ohene Djan Stadium’ to ‘Accra Sports Stadium’ by the AMA?

These are just examples that make me have the belief that it will be a national crisis. The questions of why an Akan name and not Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Nzema will arise. We find ourselves in a country where everything is polarised – if not on ethnic grounds, it is political. I am just wondering if Nkrumah and his men had named this country with an indigenous name such as Shipon kronkron or Oman papa, I can say for sure that we will have had series of name changes by now, as we have done with our ministries and the presidential palace. This is a major reason for our stagnant growth- even in the movie industry.

Anyway, who bears the responsibility of carving a name for the movie industry? Is it the Ministry of Tourism? Ministry of Culture? Ministry of Information? Film Producers Association of Ghana? The Ghana Actors’ Guild? or the Brand Ghana team?

Will a name propel Ghanaian movies to international acclaim? Do we need one in the first place? Does the British movie industry for example bear a particular tag?

A name for the industry, if it is necessary at all, I don’t believe must necessarily be in any of our local languages- it must be one that should readily be identifiable to Ghana. I don’t have any suggestions yet, but to avoid all unnecessary politicising and ethnocentricism, we may consider SPIDERHOOD, if we are uncomfortable with the ‘wood’ or simply GhanaCine!

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