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Asante Professionals Club-USA holds annual conference …and fundraising dinner in Virginia
APC-USA menbers brainstorming on Asanteman development
The Asante Professionals Club-USA (APC-USA) has held its annual conference at Springfield, Virginia, USA, to deliberate and explore strategies to make an impact in the socio-economic development of Asanteman in line with Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Development Plan.
It brought together Asante professionals and loved ones from various parts of the USA to do the brainstorming.
Ms Barbara Acheampong, the President of APC-USA, opening the conference urged members to work towards achieving a meaningful strategy for the realisation of an impactful development in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
She recognised the presence of Hon. Asenso Boakye, the MP for Bantama and Minister of Works and Housing and a founding member of APC as well as Nana Osei Agyeman Bawuah, Otumfuo’s Aboafuohene and a patron of APC-USA.
The climax of the event was a fundraising dinner dance graced by Her Excellency Hajia Alima Mahama, the Ambassador of Ghana to the United States.
In her speech, Hajia Mahama commended Ghanaians in the USA for their commitment to contribute their quota to the development of Ghana.
She urged the APC-USA to continue to build on their gains and hoped such efforts would be extended to other parts of Ghana.
Awards were presented to some deserving members for their exemplary service to the club in the United States. Her Excellency Hajia Alima Mahama presented the APC-USA Leadership Award to Hon. Asenso Boakye.
Outstanding Contribution Awards were also presented to Dr Afia Sarkodie, Dr Gabriel Asumeng, Dr Osei Dankwah and Katakyie Dr Akwasi Ampofo, Vice President of APC-USA.
Mrs Awura Amma Asantewaa Oduro, Barbara Boafo, and Oheneyere Lydia Harris earned the Membership Drive and Service Awards.
APC-USA is currently focused on the design and implementation of healthcare and educational programmes, two critical segments of Otumfuo’s Development Plan, and they would continue to seek opportunities to engage and partner with individuals and institutions to further the programmatic goals.
The Association has initiated conversations with Babson College in the USA, a top-ranked entrepreneurship institution in the world for collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on Skills Development, Exchange Programmes, and other opportunities essential for teaching and learning.
There are also long term plans of establishing an Asante Development Bank. The group sought to engage various stakeholders in Asanteman on a regular basis to identify critical issues that needed to be addressed in Asanteman.
APC-USA has in recent times donated some equipment to the Manhyia Hospital, school bag packs to the Manhyia Palace and supported other institutions with COVID-19 relief items.
His Majesty Otumfuo’s recognition of APC-USA has provided a powerful foundation of support as they mobilise resources in the United States and work to actualise his commitment to improving social and economic lives across the Asanteman.
Membership of Asante Professionals Club is open to all Asante indigenes with basic college degree or other select certified professionals.
From George Kwasi Bright, Springfield, Virginia, USA
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
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