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‘Donate blood to stock blood bank’
● Mrs Afua Dadzie, (right) with a blood donor
Mr. Stephen Kwaku Danso, a Blood Programme Officer with the National Blood Service, Accra, has urged Ghanaians to donate more blood in order to stock the National Blood Bank to save lives.
Lamenting on the low number of voluntary blood donors in the country, he said this posed danger to the healthcare system when blood was not available for transfusion during emergencies.
He observed that, in Ghana, less than one per cent of the population willingly donated blood during blood donation campaigns organised by corporate organisations, health facilities, and religious groups among others.
The low participation of individuals during blood donation campaigns isa very bad phenomenon which needs to be addressed by a constant awareness creation to educate the public on the need to give blood to help treat emergency life-threatening cases at the health facilities,” he said.
The Blood Programme Officer stressed that, it was very important to demystify myths surrounding blood donation because it was a national concern that should be tackled by all to help stock the National Blood Bank.
Mr. Danso made this call in an interview with The Spectator during an annual blood donationorganised by Lister Hospital and Fertility Centre, in Accra dubbed “100 pints blood donation campaign”.
He again said with worry that, “blood cannot be artificially manufactured in any form and shortage of blood at the National Blood Bank is disadvantageous to human survival during emergencies.”
He encouraged organisations and groups to alwaysorganise blood donation and champion the cause as a national concern to saving precious lives.
Mr. Danso told The Spectator that females and males between 17 and 60 years were eligible to donate blood.
Touching on the blood donation cycle per year, he said an individual could donate blood three times in a year “because blood donation can be done after every four months.”
He commended Lister Hospital and Fertility Centre for organising blood donation exercise every year as a viable alternative for stocking the National Blood Bank to save lives in critical conditions.
Mrs. AfuaDadzie, Business Development Manager at Lister Hospital and Fertility Centre said it was very important to organise blood donation as a health facility celebrating its 18 years anniversary of providing holistic healthcare to patients.
According to her, accident victims, sickle cell and cancer patients, pregnant women among other group of individuals are always in need of blood during stages of where blood was required to be transfused.
“You can have the best doctor, best health equipment and when blood is required for transfusion and blood is not available, you can die”, she said.
Mr. Christian Akrofi, a donor who participated in the “100 pints blood donation campaign”, pledge to donate blood every four months to help stock the National Blood Bank to save lives.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
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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