Name Dropping - Back To Gold Coast?
A Touch Of Nokoko by Kofi Akumanyi
"People who draw maps of Africa have had a hard time over the past twenty years as much of the continent has changed its name."This magazine has, in recent times, carried a healthy debate on this issue (which one contributor chose to describe as name retrieval) during which many interesting points were raised for and against it but I myself have not properly understood the supposedly complex reasons underlying the move to change names. As a matter of fact, the legality involved in changing names, be it that of a country or an individual, has been made extremely easy in our part of the world. I mean if you got up one morning and for one reason or the other did not like the sound or spelling of your name, all you do is look for the services of a Commissioner of Oath (you are sure to find one, usually an old retired school teacher or postmaster) behind a table and an ancient typewriter.
"Their difficulties continued this week when the government of Upper Volta announced that in future that West African country will be called Bourkina Fasso.. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe and Salisbury, Harare. The people of the former Belgian Congo, emerging as Zaire, had little reason to remember King Leopold with pleasure, so Leopoldville became Kinshasa. Lake Victoria retains its place in the atlas only because the three countries around it - Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika - cannot agree on a new name.
"The rush began in 1957 when the Gold Coast took on independence the name of a former African Empire, Ghana. The fact that the empire had covered a different territory did not matter. Ghana was a good, short resonant name. ". ... The new name (Bourkina Fasso) avoids the Stalingrad trap of being personalised. But it is neither memorable nor short. A more serious disadvantage is that Bourkina Fasso translates as country of Incorruptible Men. This is going to cause some wry smiles in the street cafes of Ouagadougou after the next coup when (if precedent is followed) the present rulers come up for trial on charges of corruption."
For a negligible fee the necessary papers would be completed in five minutes and an advertisement consequently placed in the local newspaper. It usually follows a set pattern or format: "I, James Andrew Kojo Mensah, P.O. Box 18. Saltpond, wish to be known as Oburumankoma Odapagyan. All former documents still remain valid". This seems to have worked alright for me and, of course, the people and countries involved all the time - until I met an astrologer last week whose incredible knowledge of the correlation between the stars, and names changed all that.
"I'd like to know what's in store astrologically for the country Bourkina Fasso," I said as Madam Theresa Asqab, the great Astrologer gazed into her crystal ball.
"I haven't heard that name before."
"It used to be Upper Volta until yesterday."
"Oh, that's right... well, not much, judging from the sound of the name," she said after a quick calculation and reference to a huge astrologic- al map on the wall.
"But the name translates, country of incorruptible men," I protested in dismay, "and that must portend something good."
"Quite, except that the configuration of the stars and the date on which the change of name was effected do not augur well for the country.'
"Oh come on, surely, a determined people, united in a common aim to overcome poverty and deprivation can overcome the so-called pull and stresses of ordinary stars," I persisted.
"They could probably do that but for the unfortunate fact that if you add the ten-letter former name to the thir- teen new name you are left with a sum which under the planetary..”
"Please spare me the details and tell me what a country like Ghana has to do to retain its former glory," I said, wanting to tap her astronomical know- ledge about the stars and names.
"That's an excellent example of a country that changed its name and went to the dogs. Do you realise that Great Britain is just that because of the 'Great' in the name and the United States is strong because of the 'United'?"
"That's unfair. The name Gold Coast was dropped at a propitious time. Remember the euphoria of being the first black African nation south of the Sahara to achieve independence?" I asked rather aggressively. "Besides, everybody says Ghana is a good, short resonant name."
"It definitely is, except that that name has a history of gradual deterioration - social, political and economic behind it and by an uncanny mixture of the planetary influences on successive leadership and that of the nation, the empire disappeared from its geographical area," Madam Asqab informed me.
"I didn't know this before … There is one point worrying my mind, however. What can Ghana do to reverse the so-called backward slide?"
"A good question, a very good question indeed," commended Madam Asqab gazing deeply into the crystal ball after a hectic calculation on the astrological map. "Well, without going deeply into the matter I can tell you that I can see a bright future of that country . . . The dark clouds are clearing and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but there is a small obstacle in the way…
"Please tell me, I can't wait any longer."
"They have to change the name Ghana again.
"Impossible. There have been too many changes since independence. The country cannot endure another change of name."
"That's the only way out".
"What name do you suggest?"
"Call it Great G. According to the laws of numerology and astronomy you thereby avoid the curse of ancient Ghana, and the helplessness of a more recent Gold Coast, and take on the mantle of greatness..."
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