Hot!
AMA organises economic empowerment summit women in informal sector
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has organized an economic empowerment summit for women in the informal sector in the metropolis.
The summit which was organised by the AMA in collaboration with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Glitz Africa sought to among other things equip the women mostly street vendors, market traders, waste pickers, with the knowledge to enhance their skills and entrepreneurship abilities as well as improve their financial status and overall well-being.
The attendees numbering about 500 were taken through topics including the impact of COVID-19 on the informal economy and strategies to build resilience, starting a business, partnerships in women’s economic empowerment, financial literacy, and women’s health among others.
Speakers at the summit included the Mayor of Accra, Hon Elisabeth K.T Sackey; Founder of Nyonyo Essentials, Mrs. Chichi Yakubu; Founder of Glitz Africa and UNFPA Ambassador, Mrs. Claudia Lumor; Branch Manager, UBA, Ms. Josephine Amo-Asare; Metro Health Director: Dr Abena Okoh.
Mayor of Accra, Hon Elizabeth K.T Sackey in a keynote address said the experience had shown that improving women’s economic opportunities and access to productive resources impacted their overall social status and societies emphasizing that “Women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion have been recognized as key to achieving the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.”
She said despite several women-owned businesses and institutions, a significant number of them are still unemployed whiles others also suffer from financial and business challenges.
She mentioned that the AMA through its social welfare department had rolled out several interventions to improve the well-being of women and the vulnerable in communities.
She disclosed that the Assembly was working with Wiego, a global network dedicated to improving the working conditions of the working poor especially women in the informal economy to “revamp and renovate some Day Care Centers in the markets,” the Mayors Migration Council to “effectively integrate informal waste pickers including women into the Waste Management system in the Assembly” and support them with resources and training as well as “registering women on the National Health Insurance Scheme to ensure equal access to healthcare.”
Metro Director of Health, Dr Abena Okoh, in her presentation enlightened the women on their general well-being, reproductive health, family planning, and sexually transmitted diseases.
She said the drugs women take predispose them to hypertension and diabetes.
“The rate of hypertension and diabetes among women in the metropolis were on the increase based on studies from 2013-2022 and this could be due to the drugs women take which leads to hormonal changes, ” she said.
She used the opportunity to encourage women to frequently visit health facilities in the metropolis and beyond to be screened.
Mrs Josephine Amo-Asare of the UBA Bank who took the women through financial literacy, noted that cash flow and control management were essential to the survival and expansion of businesses.
She urged the women to ask for help from experts while showing high integrity that would help their businesses to grow and support others too.
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
SKIP THE QUEUE, TAP THE NEWS
You can now read the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator newspapers from the comfort of your device via TimesNewsPlus.
Join our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
