Hot!
NPP primaries: Former Deputy Attorney General rides bicycle to submit nomination forms
former Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, has ridden a bicycle to submit his nomination forms to contest in the New Patriotic Party primaries in the Tempane constituency in the Upper East Region.
Flanked and cheered by his supporters, the legal practitioner, rode the bicycle for about seven kilometres from his house in Kpikpira to the party’s constituency office in Tempane to file his forms.
While some spectators were of the view that the former Deputy Attorney General was broke because he had not been given appointment in the second term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government, he clarified that, he wanted to identify himself with his constituents who were predominantly rural poor.
“My place is a place of underprivileged people, poverty stricken area and when somebody rides a bicycle, it is a toil the people are able to afford a bicycle, it is the most common and cheapest means of transport.
“Majority of my people are poor, so, I have to identify with them on the occasion of my filing by saying that the common thing they do every day, I share with them and whatever they do and I am one of them,” he emphasised.
Mr Kpemka served one term as Member of Parliament for the Tempane constituency after winning the 2016 elections against Mr David Adakurugu, the late husband of Madam Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, the current MP whom he lost the election the 2020 elections to.
Mr Kpemka explained the current MP had done nothing to improve the development initiatives that he started as an MP and that he was making a triumph return to Parliament in 2024.
He said the 2024 elections was going to be an easy job for him as their four years development records would be compared in which he stood tall, indicating that in terms of human resource and infrastructure development, his records were visible for the electorates to see.
He said “it was under my initiative that we had a Polytechnic constructed from start to finish, we started 13 school blocks, we completed nine, under the one village one dam, we did eight and rehabilitated a major dam to serve as irrigation facility for the farmers and procured subsidized fertilizer for the poor and needy who could not afford.
In addition, he said, through his efforts, about 200 youth in the area who had diploma and degrees were recruited permanently under the Ghana Education Service during his tenure, while the area had the most number of beneficiaries under Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) than any district in the Upper East and Upper West Regions.
Under the Rural Electrification project, he said, about 54 communities were initiated under his regime and efforts were still ongoing to ensure that the communities were connected to the national grid.
The Deputy Attorney General faces stiff competition in the NPP primaries as he would have to beat Ibrahim Bashiru, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Youth Employment Agency who had also filed nomination forms to contest in the primaries in the area.
Mr Kpemka said he had impressive development records to regain the seat than his competitors and appealed to the delegates to endorse him in the primaries to lead the party in the 2024 elections.
He said his networks went beyond the NPP fraternity and added that although he was confident the Party would break the eight he had the connections to lobby for development projects even if the NPP does not retain power in 2024.
Source: 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
SKIP THE QUEUE, TAP THE NEWS
You can now read the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator newspapers from the comfort of your device via TimesNewsPlus.
Join our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
