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Displaced Appiatse residents would be resettled – EPA Executive Director
The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu has paid a working visit to Appiatse, near Bogoso in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality of the Western Region last week.
He was accompanied by the Deputy Executive Director of EPA in-charge of Chemical Control and Management Centre, Dr. Ransford Sekyi, Director of Mining, Mr. Sandow Ali, Western Regional Director, Mr. George Diewuoh, Tarkwa Regional Director, Mr. Prosper Yaw Nkrumah, the Municipal Chief Executive of Prestea-Huni Valley, Dr. Isaac Dasmani and others.
Addressing the media after inspecting the area, Dr. Kokofu said the visit was to join the forces like the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Fire Service, NADMO and other relevant agencies who which played a major role to bring comfort to the victims.
He appealed to the people of Appiatse to exercise restraint as government and other benevolent people put the necessary arrangements in place to resettle the displaced inhabitants.
He said the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia had earlier told the inhabitants of Appiatse that government would consult all relevant bodies to help in the reconstruction of the community.
Dr. Kokofu said the good news was that the blasting did not make the place uninhabitable so his office after taking samples of the soil and water from different locations would test the samples in the laboratories and return with the report.
The Executive Director asked the assembly to write to the EPA for a permit for the reconstruction of the community and after all the debris had been collected the construction work could start.
He appealed to the inhabitants especially the youth to exercise restraint as government teamed up with other bodies to find a solution to the problem.
The MCE, Dr. Dasmani on his part said the visit of the EPA team was very timely because it would enable him write for the permit to begin the reconstruction of Appiatse.
He thanked all the agencies for contributing in diverse ways to bring comfort to the people and appealed for more relief items for the displaced.
The EPA also donated 200 bags of cement towards the improvement of the temporary structures allocated to the displaced persons.
From Peter Gbambila, Appiatse
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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