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Gender Department organises Men’s Cooking Competition to mark IWD in Sunyani
The Department of Gender, Children, and Social Protection yesterday organised Men’s cooking competition with some selected institutions to mark this year’s International Women’s Day celebration in Sunyani- Bono Regional capital.
The institutions include the Ghana Journalists Association, (GJA), Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Education Service, SDA Church, and GPRTU. 
The contestants prepared various dishes such as banku and okro stew, fufu and nkatenkonto, jollof rice, plain rice and stew, and mpotompoto .
The cooking competition was to drum home the message of unpaid care work engaged by women and solicit the support of men in that direction so as to enhance the wellbeing of women.
Addressing the occasion, the Bono Regional Minister Justina Owusu Banahene commended women for their selfless contributions towards the development of society in general.
She said women are not in competition with men and that the occasion sought to highlight the critical role women play in achieving societal goals and aspirations
She used the opportunity to appeal to men to assist their spouses at home in order to promote their health, peace, and harmony at all times.
Ms Owusu Banahene also appealed to young girls to desist from engaging in social vices such as prosecution and lesbianism, noting that such tendencies go against women’s wellbeing.
The sumpahemaa of the Sunyani Traditional Council, Nana Akosua Ankoma, on her part, called on women to use the celebration of International Women’s Day to reflect on certain negative attitudes they exhibit towards their fellow women.
She said that though it was good to highlight the positive contributions of women on such an occasion, it was equally important for women to take retrospective reflections on certain abuses they perpetuate against their fellow women, which go against their own good.
She mentioned abuses such as maltreatment often perpetuated against widows, orphans, and housekeepers, among others, carried out by women go a long way to negate the positive gains made towards their future match.
At the end of cooking competition, GJA represented by yours truly Daniel Dzirasah, and Claude Abisa of Onua Tv and radio came in second with 24 points.
Even though they placed second, their food was the one the organisers were clamouring for .
First, the Regional Director of Gender ordered for some of their food which was banku and okro stew.
GPRTU won the competition with 25 points as they prepared fufu and nkatenkonto.
The Ghana Immigration Service occupied the third position with 7 points, while the SDA Church and the Ghana Education Service followed.
The first and second runners up received hampers with products from their sponsors.
It was a sight to behold as most women gathered at the event were excited by the sheer display of cooking skills by all the men at the place.
From Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani
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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