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Effia Nkwanta to become teaching hospital
The Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH) at Sekondi in the Western Region will soon receive medical students from the University of Cape Coast to make the hospital a full-fledged Teaching Hospital to churn out more medical doctors.
In this light ENRH has prepared itself by acquiring many hospital equipment for the laboratories and other basic departments to commence medical studies.
The Medical Director of ENRH, Dr. Joseph Kojo Tambil disclosed this at the maiden Open Day celebration of the hospital recentlyt on the theme “Leave no One’s Health behind: Invest in Health Systems for all”.
He said the hospital administration had seen it to be prudent to train medical students to meet the rising need of medical doctors in the region and beyond.
He said the community relations of the hospital and the communities surrounding had improved tremendously because more attention was now given to clients in terms of services by staff of ENRH than the previous times.
He disclosed that management of tuberculosis (TB) in the hospital was one of the best in the country if not the best due to more attention coupled with frequent monitoring and visitation to such patients.
Dr Tambil regretted that the health facility had become a dumping place for all unidentified dead bodies making the mortuary to be full always adding “not less than 20 unidentified dead bodies are dumped at the facility every month”.
He said the worse scenario was the fee the Environmental Department of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly charged before the burial of these unidentified bodies.
He appealed to the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah to see to it that the charge imposed by STMA was scrapped because it was a huge burden on the hospital.
The medical director said before the current management took over there was a big gap between management and the other staff that created much disrespect and mistrust from the juniorstaff to the seniors.
He complained about dilapidated buildings which for decades had not seen any renovation especially staff accommodation where rent was paid but not given to the hospital for the maintenance of the buildings.
Dr Tambil said the hospital had received a Maxillofacial surgeon who would do marvellous work including complex jaw reconstruction, tumour removal and pallet surgery.
He re-emphasized the need for the Western Regional Health Directorate, the Coordinating Council to help management in pushing for the payment of some of the bills especially money used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, patients.
The chairperson of the planning committee, Dr. Nana Esi Gaisie in her remarks said now that the world was marking the universal health access day, all hospitals must make the facilities an open arena and secured for people to patronise easily for proper health care.
From Peter Gbambila, Effia Nkwanta
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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