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‘Don’t keep mothers who lose babies in same ward’
● Ms Lydia Mensah, a mother who lost her baby girl
A 30-year-old mother, Ms Lydia Mensah, who lost her daughter after delivery, has urged hospital authorities to separate ‘unfortunate’ mothers who lose their babies after birth from ‘successful’ mothers.
According to her, that would ease the pain, trauma and heartbreak associated with such situations.
She said watching other mothers breastfeed and take care of their newborn babies remind them of their loss.
Speaking with The Spectator on Monday as part of activities to mark what would have been the fourth birthday of her baby girl this month, Ms Mensah said she found it necessary to use the occasion to appeal to medical professionals to take such mothers to different wards to help them overcome the ordeal.
Ms Mensah narrated how her baby had died from shortness of breath because oxygen was in short supply at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and recalled how staff had replaced hers with that of another baby who was stable.
“After feeding her, I went back to check on her again but when I saw the number of medical staff gathered around her, I got alarmed and went to enquire about what was happening and I was told to go and get oxygen for her.”
“Having just gone through a caesarean-section, I was forced to roam the hospital in search of oxygen to save my daughter.”
The 30-year-old mother said she felt too weak and so she had to call her mother and husband to help get some for her but it was too late.
“What broke my heart was when I went to the wards and saw other mothers feeding their babies,” she said.
She said she had to complain to a doctor who suggested that she should be discharged so that her mother who was a medical person would assist in dressing her wound.
According to her, going back for review was another trauma because she saw many mothers with their babies at the Child Welfare Clinic.
“I was broken and I have never cried like that in my entire life like I did during that period,” she disclosed.
Ms Mensah said though she had a son before she lost her daughter and another son after, she continued to battle with the pain of losing a child.
She appealed to the government to ensure that there was enough oxygen in the various hospitals to supply such babies and urged medical professionals to help under such circumstances.
She said it was also important that mothers who had lost their babies were taken through some form of counselling before they are discharged.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema.
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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