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Neutrality allowance should be extended to all public sector workers – TUC
The Spokesperson for the Trade Union Congress, Naa Ayeley Ardayfio has called for the extension of the so-called neutrality allowance to all members of the public sector.
According to her, the name of the allowance, which has been largely considered controversial, should not take away the substance and significance of the allowance to the average public sector worker.
She stated that just as other workers have risk allowances, it was necessary for all public sector workers to be compensated for the opportunity cost of the work they do at their various stations.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, she said, “Because the reference was made of GBC that for instance radiation allowance, and then I have worked in GBC before so I know about night and risk allowances. You have people working the whole night through, and move into the studio at night to work when everybody is asleep.
“If you didn’t give them night allowance, or they were working with machines, or they were working with transmitters, etc. that we know has high levels of radiation, if you didn’t give them that, what would you give them?
“And so we need to look at the specifics and then we can ascribe whatever compensation there is to it. I mean, we have had situations where workers for instance are taken for granted, and it gets to the point that you as an ordinary worker say to yourself ‘no more of this’.
“You know whatever name is put to it, whatever or however it is termed, there are substances to these things and that is what we need to look at. If people have worked and they deserve for you to give them a risk or neutrality or however you want to call it, please let’s go to the substance of the issue and stop putting names to them,” she said.
Meanwhile, the government after a meeting with the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) has agreed to commence the payment of the Neutrality allowance by the last quarter of 2022.
This follows a strike action embarked on by CLOGSAG members to protest the government’s failure to pay the allowance starting February 2022 as earlier promised.
The government, however, through the Head of Loca Government Services, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur has expressed its discontentment with the name of the allowance.
Dr. Ato Arthur said “forget about the terminology that we called it because that terminology or nomenclature doesn’t sit well with us as government. So let’s have a team to look at how it is going to be called. However that allowance we’ll give to you effective the last quarter of the year.”
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
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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