Gregory Andrews and his dog, Kofi
Gregory Andrews and his dog, Kofi

Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Gregory Andrews, has retained the right to keep his pet dog’s name as Kofi.

This was after he conducted a twitter pool on social media asking if he should keep or change its name.

A few weeks ago, Mr Andrews took to his social media pages to show off his two pet dogs, Kofi and Rikka in the streets of Osu as they went for a walk.

Some social media users, especially Ghanaians, who thought it was disrespectful and uncalled for to name his pet dog after one of the most popular traditional Ghanaian names, Kofi, asked him to do something about it.

Shortly after they “attacked” him, Mr Andrews conducted a pool on his Twitter page, seeking opinions to help him make a decision on whether to change the name to Coffee or maintain the original name, ‘Kofi’.

OK, Ghana it’s time for dog name democracy! I love my dear dog Kofi. And in Australia, we say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Personally I’d prefer him not to have to change his name. It might be too hard or it could give him an identity crisis.

Mr Gregory Andrews has finally retained the right to keep his pet’s name after he conducted a pool on social media
Mr Gregory Andrews has finally retained the right to keep his pet’s name after he conducted a pool on social media

But I will listen to the voice of the people. I will keep it as ‘Kofi’ or change it to ‘Coffee’ depending on a poll that I’ve set up my Twitter account.

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Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Gregory Andrews has finally retained the right to keep his pet’s name after he conducted a pool on social media asking if he should keep or change it's name.

When the results came in, 62.5 per cent asked the High Commissioner to keep the ‘Kofi’ while the remaining 37.5 voted for ‘Coffee’.

Find the twitter poll results below:

Shortly after the poll, which garnered about 766 votes, the ambassador said:

It’s official Ghana. Based on your collective voice, I’ve decided to keep Kofi’s name. More than 65% of responses to my Facebook and Twitter surveys voted for #KeepKofi.

All of my fellow colleagues at the High Commission are happy. A few preferred #Coffee, but everyone respects the majority view. And we all know his name was given with love and respect.

I want everyone to know that if the vote had been the other way, I would have made the #ChangeToCoffee.

Needless to say, I have the highest respect for the peoples and cultures of Ghana, he noted.