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First female professor of UMAT delivers inaugural lecture

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Prof. Ofori-Sarpong delivering her inaugural lecture

The First Female Professor of Minerals Engineering in Ghana and currently the Dean of School of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, in the Western Region, Prof. Grace Ofori-Sarpong, has delivered her first inaugural lecture which is also the seventh lecture of UMaT.

Her topic was “Mycohydrometallurgy; One-Pot Degradation of Double Refractory Gold Ores by Phanerochaete chrysosporium”.

She said “gold was not like a tree you could take and it would shoot up for you to come back and cut again but the moment gold was taken from the ground or soil that ended it except small particles that might be left or hidden.”

She said that technology needed to be developed in order to retrieve the hidden gold from the soil so her lecture was to get the hidden or leftover gold through the application she had researched into and developed.

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Prof. Ofori-Sarpong said she was so honoured as a lady to be given the opportunity to showcase what a woman had gone through and brought to the public domain.

She said it was also a platform to tell her counterparts that they should aim high and be determined to reach the sky and surely they would get there.

She disclosed that she had a platform where she and her colleagues assisted the younger girls to aim high and use the sky as a spring board to get to the next level.

She said the gold in the hard rock needed to be broken into very smaller pieces before the gold could be obtained but some gold would still be hidden after breaking the rock so pretreatment was needed to get the rest of the gold out.

She said one way of getting gold was through burning but that method polluted the environment so microorganisms were used to extract the gold and by this method the environment would not be polluted.

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The Dean said about a decade ago ‘mycohydrometallurgy’ was introduced into literature to define the application of fungi in hydrometallurgy and this brought to the fore exploration of a ‘one-pot’ transformation of carbonaceous matter (CM) and sulphidic minerals (SM).

The Chairman of the Inaugural Lecture, Vice Chancellor of UMaT, Prof. Richard Kwasi Amankwah said it was an important day in the UMaT Calendar to celebrate the first female professor to deliver her inaugural lecture.

He said as the first female Professor of UMaT all female students looked up to her as a role model for many to also climb the scaffold to greater heights.

From Peter Gbambila, Tarkwa.

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Justin Kodua Frimpong files nomination to seek re-election as NPP General Secretary

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General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has filed his nomination to contest the position of General Secretary again as the party begins its rebuilding efforts ahead of the 2028 general elections.

He was accompanied by party stalwarts and supporters who were in high spirits, expressing confidence that he is the right person to hold the position.

Speaking after filing his nomination, Mr Kodua Frimpong assured the rank and file of the party that he would not disappoint them.

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“I can assure you that the faith the rank and file of the party have had in me, I will never disappoint them,” he said.

He also pledged to run a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks.

“I can assure you that our internal campaign will be devoid of personal attacks,” he told his fellow contestants and the rank and file of the party as he seeks to retain his position.

His tenure has seen the party through the 2024 general elections, where the NPP lost power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after eight years in government.

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The party is currently in a rebuilding phase, with internal elections scheduled to elect new national executives to lead its reorganization towards the 2028 polls.

The General Secretary position is considered one of the most influential in the party’s administrative structure, responsible for the day-to-day running of the party secretariat and implementation of party decisions.

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme

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UGMC disputes Michael Blackson’s claims over late mother’s treatment

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The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has disputed claims made on social media by comedian Michael Blackson concerning the treatment given to his late mother, saying a review found that the allegations did not accurately reflect what happened during her stay at the hospital.

In a statement issued in Accra on August 5, 2026, the management of UGMC expressed condolences to Mr. Blackson and his family over the death of his 83-year-old mother, who died at the facility on July 16, 2026.

The hospital said it had taken the concerns raised by Mr. Blackson seriously and conducted a thorough review in line with its clinical and administrative procedures.

According to the statement, the facts presented by Mr. Blackson on social media contained “numerous inaccuracies” and did not accurately reflect the medical care provided to his mother.

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UGMC explained that she was referred to the facility from another hospital and received treatment there from May 27 to July 16, 2026, a period of about eight weeks.

The hospital stated that it would not release details of her diagnosis, treatment, medical records or other aspects of her care because it had a duty to protect patient confidentiality, even after death.

It said the decision was intended to respect the dignity of the deceased and the privacy of her family.

UGMC further stated that all clinical decisions at the facility are made by qualified healthcare professionals based on medical judgment, established standards of care and the best interests of the patient.

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The statement added that such decisions are made in consultation with authorised family representatives where necessary and that billing and financial procedures are governed by institutional policies and are separate from clinical decision-making.

The hospital noted that it values feedback from patients and their families and considers both positive and negative comments important for improving the quality of care.

Mr. Blackson had earlier used social media to criticise the care his mother received at UGMC, prompting the hospital’s response.

By: Jacob Aggrey

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