DC Kwame Kwakye And His Special English Diction

But fragments of Kwakye’s profile were brought closer home through a colleague student of Odasco, who in dull moments lit the sky with the DC’s hilarious quotes. 'Today is a great day, and a great day is today, and today is a great day…’ said Kwame Kwakye, as he flipped through his prepared speech whose early pages were missing.

In 1949 when Kwame Nkrumah formed the Convention People’s Party, Kwakye  joined the wagon since its principles and grassroots orientation mirrored his own lifestyle.

The growing popularity of Kwakye over the years, gave him access to Kwame Nkrumah himself who  fondly called him ‘Charles De Gaulle,’ after the then president of France.

After a futile search he coined the phrase,  ‘wooden koana,’  which was a rare combination of English and Twi (koa, to bend), and has now come to stay in comic settings.On several occasions he represented Kwame Nkrumah at public events, DC Kwakye apologized for Nkrumah’s absence.

The President being busy, could not ‘division himself into twice,’ for which reason ‘I stand here in the leg of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah today.’When he was late for an important meeting one day, his apology for the late attendance was also a self-introduction: ‘Colleagues, I am the Late DC Kwame Kwakye.’If Ghanaians owed a debt of gratitude to Kwame Nkrumah,  DC Kwakye had a peculiar way of conveying this: ‘If not Kwame Nkrumah then me, I am the who?

All of you, you are the where?’ This was a virtual transliteration of Twi expressions (Nka me ne hwan? nka wowɔ he?) that conveyed the President’s impact on every Ghanaian.‘Then Mr DC what’s your occupation?,’ quipped a newspaper reporter.‘I occupy the whole of Akyem Oda district,’ was DC Kwakye’s supposed response.After he and his entourage had been well seated and given the customary drink, it was for their host to politely ask the guest, ‘Mr DC, what’s your mission here today?’ Kwame Kwakye: ‘My mission?

 The Gomuas of Central Region decided to convey the local perception of English  in the name of one village: ‘Brɔfoyedur’ meaning ‘English Language is a Burden.’ Kwame Kwakye’s claim to fame was in the art of dislodging the burden posed by English, by bringing it down to the masses.Today, there are several variants of Kwakye’s peculiar diction across the country, and so have many Kwakye surnames arbitrarily attracted the title prefix DC, to perpetuate the memory of Ghana’s folk hero, DC Kwame Kwakye. The question is whether Kwame Kwakye was the sole author of words and phrases ascribed to his name.