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Optometrist worried over cases of cataract among children in Savannah Region
An Optometrist in the Upper West Region, Dr Zakarea Al-hassan Balure has expressed concern over the number of cataract cases identified among children in the Gindabo area council in the Savannah Region.
The doctor was more worried that old age disease existed among children in the area and attributed the cause to the kind of activities and jobs people in the area were engaged in.
His concern stemmed from the fact that some of the children who patronised a free eye screening exercise for some 738 at Ginda were diagnosed with the cataract condition.
The screening was undertaken by Bliss Eye Care, a Wa-based private eye clinic in the Upper West Region which is under the management of Dr Balure.
The eye screening was under a project dubbed “Blissful Sight for Kids” project and funded by Ghana Vision, a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland.
The screening also came with some basic eye care services for people who needed immediate attention as well as giving out specific drugs and glasses for specific conditions whereas those with very severe conditions were profiled for further treatment at Wa.
According to the doctor, even though many people in the community could not make it to the screening, the cataract prevalence among the participants was very alarming and would require a deliberate plan to screen more people in the area for immediate treatment.
He defined cataract as the clouding of the clear lens of the eye and which normally developed as people aged.
He was also concerned about a trachoma case which was identified and said the case was the fourth since the beginning of the project implementation in rural areas of the Upper West Region.
Dr Balure used the opportunity to appeal to the public to take good care of their eyes and endeavour to take advantage of such eye screening exercises to know the status of their sight organs.
“We can prevent needless blindness and eye complications if we are proactive in some of these things so I will mobilise with my team and see how many more people we can screen in subsequent exercises”, he added.
The assembly member for the area, Mr Abass Braimahsaid people had various eye conditions in the area due to the nature of jobs they were engaged in which included farming and the burning of charcoal.
He mentioned that even if they developed such conditions there was no eye unit at the health centre which served over 60 communities in the area council.
“The only time you see people going to the hospital for eye services is when they can no longer contain the pain of whatever they are feeling in their eyes and that is because apart from financial challenges, the nearest hospital for such services is at either Bole or Wa which are quite far from here so they prefer to suffer in silence”, he said
This challenge the assembly member noted would be solved if an eye professional was added to the staff at the Gindabo health centre to help screen residents with eye problems regularly and advise for further treatment.
He commended Bliss Eye Care for the intervention.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, GINDABO
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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