Mr Speaker, if the Hon Chairman would care to know, Koforidua Zongo has become one of the best Zongos because it has a history.
If we would want to define Zongo, we have the orthodox definition and the contemporary one. In the past, the reason we have Islam and Hausa was that, these
were traders and the word Zango means a “traveller's temporal residence”. Today, it has become permanent. They stayed at the outskirts of town. Today, they are in the centre of every community.
If we take a place like Nima, that is why it is defined as a heterogeneous society. In the past, it was a homogenous society but today, it is a heterogeneous one composed of different ethnicities and religions. The most common language spoken in the Zongos is Hausa and the most predominant religion is Islam.
Mr Speaker, those communities are deprived, but we cannot have all the three features at the same time. In some place, we would have all the three common features. But elsewhere, for instance, Koforidua Zongo, Islam is the most predominant religion. There are churches and traditional religion there too, but the most predominant religion is Islam.
Most of the communities that are classified as Zongos have Hausa names. There is Fadama , Sabon Zongo, Nasarawa and Moshie Zongo. All these are Zongos. But some of my Hon Colleagues see it differently. because they go to a particular place where there is Islam and they claim the place is a Zongo, it is not so. Maybe, it is a settler community. We should get this very clear.
Mr Speaker, that is where I fear for somebody telling the Hon Minister to use his own discretion to define where a Zongo is. I would be there and I would be able to identify it. But a different person would one day come and give a different definition to that Zongo, whereas he does not understand the word.
Mr Speaker, we should get it very clear. This is because the predominant religion is Islam and the predominant language is Hausa, or the community is characterised
by poor living standards. In some places, we can have all the three characteristics, but these two are very common.
Mr Speaker, if we talk of Kumasi, we have Moshie Zongo, the word “Moshi” shows clearly that it is a community that is a Zongo. So, we would have to look at it carefully in our definition. If we look at the past, people would see it very clear, because they stayed outside of the communities.
Mr Speaker, today as we speak, Tudu, Adabraka, this means “Abalkah” , [Interruption.] it is not a Ga word. It is Hausa word and so is Madina, Nima and Kaukudi. They are all typical features of Zongos —