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Adwinsa Publications Holds Children’s Book and Art Festival to Commemorate 2025 World Children’s Day
The Adwinsa Children’s Book and Art Festival, organised in partnership with the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA), has been held in Accra as part of activities marking the 2025 World Children’s Day celebration.
The initiative was designed to promote a strong reading culture among Ghanaian children while nurturing creativity through books and the arts. This year’s festival featured workshops, performances, art showcases, and reading sessions designed to inspire children to read for pleasure and develop essential creative skills.
Speaking at the event on Friday, the Executive Director of the GhLA, Mr Alhassan Bentintiche Ziblim, said the festival reflects a renewed national commitment to raising confident, imaginative, and lifelong readers. He noted that the Authority had identified key interventions to make reading more accessible and appealing to children across the country.
Mr Ziblim highlighted the extension of operating hours at the National Children’s and Mobile Library facilities to support the government’s 24-hour economy agenda. He also pointed to the rapid expansion of the zero-rated Ghana Library App, which now provides free access to a wide range of e-ibooks, audiobooks, and learning materials.
To further strengthen literacy outcomes, he announced plans to stock all public libraries with GES-approved textbooks and introduce reading sessions in major Ghanaian languages. According to him, ongoing reforms to the Authority’s 55-year-old legislation were aimed at improving the regulation of libraries and strengthening professional standards to meet modern expectations.
The Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon and Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr John Dumelo, urged young people to embrace reading as a vital tool for personal growth and national development. He expressed concern that many young people were neglecting books in favour of digital content.
Mr Dumelo further hinted at plans to introduce a constituency-wide reading competition to promote literacy, academic excellence, and a renewed love for books among schoolchildren.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Adwinsa Publications, Mr Kwaku Oppong-Amponsah, urged book shops in the country to digitalise their operations. He appealed to the government to buy books, especially story books in local languages, to help enhance the operations of local publishers and provide employment.
“One of the major interventions we need from the government is for it to buy books, especially the story books, because there are a lot of story books not only in English, but in local languages. At Adwinsa, for instance, we have a lot of story books produced in over 11 local languages, but who will buy?” Mr Oppong-Amponsah stated.
By Eugene Ampiaw
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A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Bekwai Circuit Court for his role in a 2022 robbery at a mining site at Manso Akwasiso in the Ashanti South Region.
The convict, Dominic Ofori, also known as Fanta, was arrested on 16th February 2026 after years on the run. He pleaded guilty before the Bekwai Circuit Court to robbery contrary to Section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29, and was accordingly sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour.
On March 20, 2022, the Manso Adubia District Police received intelligence that a group of armed men from Manso Abodom were planning to attack a mining site at Manso Akwasiso to rob the owner of gold concentrate. Acting on the information, police mounted a coordinated operation and laid an ambush at the site.
At about 5:30 pm the same day, four-armed men arrived at the site, fired indiscriminately, and robbed the miners of their gold concentrate. The police team on surveillance intervened, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.
Three of the suspects, Abu Abubakar, Musah Latif, and Gideon Takyi, sustained gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead on arrival at St Martins Catholic Hospital at Agroyesum. Dominic Ofori escaped at the time but was later arrested and put before the court.
The Ashanti South Regional Police Command has assured the public of its continued commitment to combating violent crimes and bringing offenders to justice.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested 45-year-old Isaac Boafo, also known as “Duabo King,” for allegedly publishing false news intended to cause fear and panic.
Police said the arrest follows a viral TikTok video in which Boafo claimed that four officers at the Central Police Station in Kumasi engaged in inappropriate conduct with commercial sex workers during night patrols in Asafo.
Officers from the Police Intelligence Directorate (Ashanti Region) apprehended Boafo after receiving intelligence about the video.
During questioning, he admitted to creating the video to attract views and engagement online, and acknowledged that he could not prove the allegations.
Boafo also admitted making comments about the President of the Republic for content purposes and could not defend those statements.
He has been formally charged and is in detention as investigations continue.
The Ashanti Regional Police have warned the public against publishing or sharing false information on social media, noting that such acts can cause fear, panic, and damage reputations.
They said anyone found engaging in similar conduct will face legal action.
By: Jacob Aggrey
