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Follow JM everywhere to sell paraphernalia- Vendor
Ms Rose Danquah
Ms Rose Dankwah is neither a personal bodyguard nor the driver of former President, John Dramani Mahama.
She does not also play any role as a protocol officer or function in any official office of Mr Mahama but when asked whether she occupies any position in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party which Mr Mahama leads currently, she responded in the affirmative.
Although Ms Dankwah officially holds no identifiable position in the party, she remains one of the popular faces in the party’s colours for her penchant to follow the party’s candidate on every campaign trail.
Ms Dankwah, a resident of Kwashiebu in the Greater Accra Region has become one of the familiar faces around party campaign grounds with the sale of all kinds of NDC paraphernalia.
She said besides making sales to take care of her needs and those of her family, she also gets fulfilment because she loves the NDC party so much.
Speaking in an interview with The Spectator last week when Mr. Mahama visited the Ashaiman Municipality to interact with artisans and informal workers, Ms Dankwah said she had been involved in this for over 20 years with former President Jerry John Rawlings.
She recalled in the past when the business was good and quite promising, especially on the travels countrywide, making good sales.
However, she said, “the times have changed; the job is not lucrative as it used to be.”
Ms Dankwah gets her wares from Accra or Kumasi from people who mostly import from China and displays on the ground and also hawks at rally grounds.
Her paraphernalia ranges from bracelets, necklaces, scarfs, T-shirts, vuvuzela, whistles and many more.
The trader said the business comes with some risk like all other businesses, one being the seasonal drop in sales especially in the off political seasons.
When that happens, she and her colleagues pack the items into store rooms and painfully wait for another four years or any political activity involving the party that they might chance on to sell.
Apart from the party paraphernalia, Ms Dankwah sells anything that would provide her daily bread until another election year beckons.
Fascinatingly, she sells strictly NDC paraphernalia and has no plans to sell other political party items.
This, she explained, is to show her loyalty to the NDC party.
Apart from the few challenges related to her business, Ms Dankwah also has a major headache, that is, her rent which is due for expiry in two months’ time.
“I am scared that I might not be in any good position to settle my rent because the political season is yet to kick off. I am one of the few people praying that the political season would kick off in earnest to start making some money for myself.”
In her view, a huge number of paraphernalia vendors were not party faithfuls like her, acknowledging that “all of them are not like me, some support other parties but there are a few that support no political groupings.”
She was of the view that it was time they formed an association to help make life better for paraphernalia vendors.
By Dzifa Tetteh Tay
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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