‘I don’t speak big English, my kind of ‘brofo’ is what I speak’ – Hawa Koomson

• Hawa Koomson has spoken about her modest use of English words

• She is proud of her past two-decade long teaching experience

• She is happy and content with her kind of basic English

Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mavis Hawa Koomson has explained her difficulty in expressing herself using ‘big’ vocabulary.

Earlier this year, The Awutu Senya East Member of Parliament of she became the subject of public discussions following her difficulty to articulate herself and show adequate understanding of the sector to which the president had nominated her as minister.

For some people, English speaking and articulation was not a measure of competence whiles others argued that as a representative of the president there was the need for a minimum level of fluency to better discharge her duties.

Mrs Koomson however explained in an interview on the September 16 edition of Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programme, monitored by GhanaWeb, that her upbringing and level of teaching experience, accounts for her inability to use big English and also to fluently articulate herself.

“And maybe it is because of my background, and as I said, if I have been able to teach for over 20 years in the system, what language did I use? But I taught in the public school and I also taught the small ones.

“With the GES, we believe that you need to communicate and communicate well to the child’s understanding and so we don’t use big words and that is why I don’t use big words.

“But sentences that I can also use to defend myself as we are doing (I am speaking English even though once in a while I use Twi)… but then I don’t know why the people keep saying… Yes, I don’t speak big English, my kind of ‘brofo’ is what I speak,” she told show host Paul Adom-Otchere.