News
MAMA DZIDOASI, A RISING QUEEN OF SUBSTANCE
At the tender age of 19, while studying Marketing at the then Institute of Professional Studies (now University of Professional Studies, Accra), Ms. Claudia Etornam Kudzi (as she then was) was enstooled Mama Dzidoasi I, Queen of Abansi-Asedukluvi in the Gbi Traditional Area of the Volta Region.
By that title, she is a Sub-Divisional Queen of Gbi Abansi.
The young and beautiful queen completed her course in 2010, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and later acquired a degree in law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) at Greenhill, near Accra.
Meanwhile, between studying marketing and law, Mama Dzidoasi was awarded a Diploma in Commonwealth Youth Programme by the University of Ghana, Legon, in 2008.
She is currently pursuing a Barrister-at-Law degree at the Ghana Law School, Makola, in Accra.
Born in Hohoe on November 29, 1986, Mama Dzidoasi, a product of Ho Mawuli School, is now serving her second term as Chairman of the Volta Region Lands Commission.
Even though she considers baking a hobby, she has managed to turn that pastime into a lucrative business and is now the owner of E Cakes Ghana, a baking company with a shop in Accra.
The elegant sub-divisional Gbi Abansi queen is a royal from both the paternal and maternal sides.
Her paternal grandfather, the late Mr. Felix Yao Kudzi was the first Asofoatse of Gbi-Abansi while her maternal great grandfather, Mr. Daniel Zikpi Anyigba was the first Asafoatse of Gbi Kpeme
Mama Dzidoasi is the mother to Golda Klenam Afua-Sampo Dogbatse, who was born in 2014.
The queen is admired and revered for her enormous developmental roles from the day she occupied the stool.
In 2007, for instance, she co-organized a seminar for chiefs and queens of Hohoe Municipal Area as part of the Ghana @50 Celebration.
She successfully solicited support from the Austrian Embassy in Accra, through the Volta Foundation, to build a six-unit environmentally-friendly latrine for the people of Abansi-Adzage Kofe.
Mama Dzidoasi again secured support from Tigo and the Ghana AIDS Commission, and through collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and her office, Dzidoasi Community Development Project, organised an AIDS Day quiz to mark World AIDS Day, for Junior High Schools in the Hohoe municipality in 2012.
In 2019, the queen was a member of the Gbidukorza (Gbi Festival) National Steering Committee and coordinated the Miss Gbi Beauty Contest.
It was all pomp and pageantry when the former board member of the St Theresa’s College of Education, Hohoe, launched the 15th-anniversary celebration at Hohoe on Sunday.
The grand event is slated for mid-2022.
In a chat with The Spectator, Mama Dzidoasi said that supporting communities with library and ICT projects would continue to be part of her prioritised ones.
She announced that GH¢15, 000 had already been raised as seed money for the area’s breast cancer fund project, and pledged to continue to support young women to acquire entrepreneurial skills to make them financially self-reliant.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HOHOE
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has amended the charges in the ongoing case against former National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Chief Executive, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and nine others.
The number of counts has risen from 25 to 54 after investigators uncovered new evidence.
The accused are facing trial for alleged large-scale extortion, abuse of public office, and money laundering involving over GH¢291 million and US$332,000.
According to the OSP, the accused persons allegedly extorted huge sums of money from bulk oil transporters and oil marketing companies under the pretext of carrying out official duties.
The proceeds were reportedly laundered through the purchase of properties and investments in business entities to conceal their source.
The accused persons include Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Jacob Kwamina Amuah, Wendy Newman, Albert Ankrah, Isaac Mensah, Bright Bediako-Mensah, Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah, Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited, and Kings Energy Limited.
The OSP has also seized and frozen several assets, including tanker trucks, fuel stations, houses, apartments, and parcels of land valued at more than GH¢100 million pending the outcome of the trial.
The case, titled The Republic v. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid & 9 Others (Cr/0603/2025), is currently being heard at the Accra High Court.
By: Jacob Aggrey
The National Operations Directorate (NOD) Surveillance Unit, of the Ghana Police Service has arrested a 32-year-old man, Akoto Nelson, for posing as a police officer during a public event at the Black Star Square in Accra.
The suspect was arrested on Sunday, 19th October 2025, by a team of officers deployed to provide security at a musical concert. The team observed the suspect dressed in a police uniform with the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) behaving suspiciously. Upon interrogation, he admitted that he was not a police officer.
Investigations revealed that the suspect impersonated a police officer to gain free entry to the event, claiming he did not have money to pay the entry fee. He further disclosed that the uniform belonged to a deceased Chief Inspector, identified as Gyasi, from whom he obtained the police accoutrements in 2022.
A subsequent search conducted at his residence in Taifa-Ashaiman uncovered several items that were retained as exhibits. These include one toy P99 pistol, one pepper spray, two ZTE mini handsets, one pepper spray pouch, one ZTE charger, one Xinfa cutter knife, some complimentary cards, one voter ID in the name of Akoto Nelson Elikem, and one birth certificate in the name of Nelson Akoto.
Preliminary investigations further established that the suspect works as a security guard and a messenger at a private company. He remains in police custody and will be put before the court.
