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Family planning an economic intervention – NPC boss
Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, Executive Director of the National Population Council, has advised Ghanaians to see family planning as an economic intervention to societal hardship.
She gave this advice exclusively to The Spectator in an interview last week in her office in Accra.
She indicated that, the well-being of a society and a nation as a whole stemmed from family planning, which was the reliable way to get rid of unwanted pregnancies and pre-term babies.
According to the Medical Doctor, unwanted pregnancies which mostly resulted in pre-term babies incurred additional costs to cater for such babies by the state.
These babies, she said, mostly grew up to become deviants in the society since they never had good parental guidance to help them accomplish their dreams.
She added that society survived on “relevant education”, hence there was the need for quality formal education for every child, and “when such child is deprived of that, it breeds the grounds for a dangerous community”.
“If you keep children out of school, they do not harness their God-given talents and are full of ignorance, where ignorance is a disease which breeds poverty,” she noted.
Dr Adelaide Appiah stated that “giving birth is not a talent” and asked the young girls to focus on their education than becoming mothers at their tender age.
On her part, the growth and development of a nation hinge on family planning which is a progress for individual’s to have a harmonious living.
“In fact, good parenting helps children develop their social, emotional and academic skills, as these qualities are needed for sustainable individual, community, national and global development,” she stressed.
Dr Appiah said if individuals accepted family planning as an economic intervention, the community also became resilient leading to a resilient nation as well.
Occupying a statutory obligation as the Chief Advisor to the Government of Ghana on well and effective population management for the betterment of Ghanaians, Dr Appiah promised to deepen her commitments in tackling population issues in the country.
“National Population Council (NPC) would continue to educate and sensitise policy makers, policy implementers and the general public on the importance of effective population management; and to appreciate the need for improved and sustained quality of life,” the Executive Director reiterated.
According to her, “NPC constantly advocates and orchestrates effective population management that meets the socio-economic development of all, and this conscious effort starts with planning the family as the unit of societal progress.”
She further stated that, the success story of any nation hinged on good, responsible, disciplined, kind and stable parents.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
The Speaker of the Algerian Parliament, Mr. Azouz Nasri, has arrived in Accra to take part in the Next Steps High-Level Consultative Conference on the implementation of the landmark United Nations Resolution on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans.
He was received at the Jubilee Lounge, Kotoka International Airport, by Ghana’s First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor.
The 3-day conference runs from June 17–19, 2026 in Accra. It will bring together parliamentary leaders, diplomats, civil society, and other key stakeholders to reflect on the implications of the UN Resolution for Africans and people of African descent worldwide.
Organisers say the meeting is aimed at advancing a coordinated global framework to strengthen advocacy around the Resolution and provide practical guidance for its implementation across member states.
The Resolution is described as a historic step toward acknowledging the transatlantic slave trade and addressing its lasting impact, with this conference marking one of the first high-level efforts to move it from declaration to action.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Aspiring National Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Awentami Paul Afoko, has stated that the party has a unique opportunity to annex power in the 2028 elections.
According to him, the one person who has been on Ghana’s ballot paper for several elections will not be on the ballot paper in the 2028 elections, paving the way for the NPP to properly market its flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is already a formidable force to reckon with and will go ahead to win the polls.
He argued that voters already know him, he’s battle-tested and ready to win.
He reiterated that the NPP will have a well-marketed candidate in the 2028 election and just as the party did in 2016 when it annexed power from a sitting government, the same can be done.
The Former NPP National Chairman, however, noted that this can be possible if the NPP unites as a unit and approach the elections with all the seriousness it deserves to ensure that its quest for victory does not become a mirage.
Mr Awentami Paul Afoko made this known when he met with Regional Executives, Patrons and Elders of the party in the Volta, Oti and Eastern Regions yesterday.
“For the first time we have a unique opportunity. At the time I put the New Plan for Power in place, we knew that the sitting president could go again and if he won another term, we would sit in opposition for twelve years.
We had to put a plan in place to make sure we come to power and we came to power. This time around, he will not be on the ballot paper and this offers us a unique opportunity, but without unity we will not get there,” he stated.
“As for unity, it is not negotiable. You can’t sit here and look at the lady sitting next to you and say I don’t like her so we can’t work together. We are working together for power, and if we let emotions get in the way, we lose” he said.
“Those of you who are old enough to remember Muhammad Ali the boxer, he is in the ring with you, he’s talking and calling you names then you get emotional and he takes advantage. Emotions won’t give us power. I didn’t get anything so I won’t support; no, let that go because it is in the past,” he noted.
Afoko, who is pushing his 3R Agenda of Reunite, Rebuild, and Recapture power, said the party must adopt a clear message to win back the confidence of Ghanaians and believes, with Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, whom he described as the right candidate will guarantee the NPP victory in the 2028 polls.
“For years I chose to work quietly behind the scenes, supporting the NPP in private,” Afoko said.
“But recent developments have compelled me to step forward. We need to get our party back into winning ways, and that starts with unity of purpose,” Afoko reiterated.
He framed the upcoming period as a test of whether NPP politics would mature or remain stuck in cycles of blame, but was optimistic that everyone who loves the party would come on board to realize the goal of making Dr Mahamudu Bawumia the next President of Ghana.
By: Jacob Aggrey
