  Menkiti's statement adumbrates a conception of moral personhood, which will now be discussed in some detail. The concept of a person in African thought embodies ethical presuppositions. The word used for “person” in the Akan language (undoubtedly the most widely spoken language in Ghana) is onipa. But the word onipa also means “human being” and the plural form of it means “people”. Thus, the word onipa is an ambiguous word. In the Akan society, when an individual's conduct very often appears cruel, wicked, selfish, ungenerous or unsympathetic, it would be said of that individual that “he is not a person” (onnye onipa).