The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pribet Group of Companies, Prince Lamptey Tetteh, has appealed passionately to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to frown on the current social media term ‘Kumerica’ before, as he puts, it gets rooted and tarnishes the country’s image as a whole.
The young Ghanaian entrepreneur believes the subscription to the ‘Kumerica’ tag to the extent of changing the names of some of the important towns is an insult to the rich culture of the great Ashantis led by His Majesty the Otumfuo.
To him, it is a clear case of playing second fiddle to another country’s culture and a demonstration of surrendering ones sovereignty because the Ashantis have one of the greatest cultures that should never be undermined.
“A lot of things went into the naming of towns in Ghana which mostly includes our ancestors’ struggles and fight for the survival of the towns. We all know these towns and cities are named for reasons which tell the stories of the people and must be kept for current and unborn generations to learn from. We must preserve our culture and heritage,” he said.
He added “I don’t know why we should be comparing ourselves to the Americans when we should be proud of who we are and what we stand for in the world. The Europeans even envy our African cultures and heritages, so I see no reason why people have started changing their ways of life-style and names of the towns in Kumasi (sic).”
He, however, stated that if it is for entertainment purposes then it should stay in that context and not go beyond what he thinks is accepted cultural standards.
“I am pleading with the Otumfuo and to a large extent President Akufo-Addo to do something about the current trend to prevent this ‘Kumerica’ tag as it has a potential of derailing out cultural heritage,” he stressed, adding “we at Pribet Group consider this as a wake-up call for the youth to come together as ambassadors of our cultural heritage to protect and showcase it to the world to attract more tourists in the country rather than trying to replace it with western culture.”
Lamptey Tetteh had been in the news early this year as the Ghanaian man in charge of the electricity power in the whole of Guinea-Bissau.
He also leads a multi-disciplinary construction and general merchant business firm, with expertise in Building/Civil Engineering, Security Services, Multi-Media, Energy Production, Agricultural, Travel and Tours, Importation of Fuel, Technology and Solutions with branches in Europe and Africa (Portugal, Guinea-Bissau and now in Ghana) and the local partner of Karpowership.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum
