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Govt clears GH¢2.63bn legacy owed ECG
The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu says the government has cleared the GH¢2.63 billion legacy debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, he said, as at December last year, the government had paid the full amount of electricity bills and currently had a credit balance of GH¢500 million with the power distributor.
In order to remain current on bills expected to be paid by the government since assuming power, he said an annual payment of GH¢2 billion was made to the ECG from 2017.
“As of December 2016, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) left office, the bill owed ECG by the government at that time was GH¢2.63 billion.
On assumption of office, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ensured that it was current on all the bills incurred during its tenure, from 2017 to date. On the average, President Akufo-Addo has paid GH¢2 billion annually to cover its bills with the ECG,” he added.
With an average electricity bill payment of GH¢100 million per month, the Minister explained that the GH¢500 million credit balance would cover government’s electricity bill from January to April this year.
Additionally, he said unreconciled additional payment of GH¢4.14 billion by government to fuel suppliers of power producers, which were yet to be credited to government would position the country toward addressing financial challenges crippling the sector.
In this regard, the Energy Sector Reform Programme designed to improve the sector, Mr Amewu noted, has been approved by cabinet to ensure a reliable and effective electricity company in the country.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his sixth address to the nation, announced government’s decision to absorb the electricity bills of consumers as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus disease on Ghanaians.
He said as part of the measures, government would fully absorb the electricity bills for people who consumed zero to 50 kw/h of electricity for the periods of April, May and June.
He added further that, for residential and commercial users, government would absorb 50 per of the electricity bills using March 2020 as benchmark.
The decision, he said, was to support industry, enterprises and the service sector, as well as provide some relief to households for lost income.
Ghana’s confirmed cases of the disease is presently 5,918 with 31 deaths and 1,754 recoveries.
As it stands, the country’s active cases are 4,128 with five persons in critical and moderately ill conditions at the various treatment centres.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
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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