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Sky Train: $2m paid to investor should be refunded – Vice Chair of Transport Committee
The Vice Chair of the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament Alex Tetteh Djornobuah has said the $ 2 million paid to Africa Investor Holdings for the construction of a Sky Train should be refunded.
He said the money is needed to develop other sectors of the economy.
Speaking on News 360 on TV3 Monday, July 17, the Sefwi Akontombra lawmaker said ‘I think Ghanaians deserve better and we need our money to develop other sectors, so I support the call of the Minority that they should refund the money.
Asked who should lead the process to get the cash refunded, he said “We as members of the Roads and Transport Committee, we have the responsibility as representatives of the people so we can actually call for a probe of this particular payment.”
The Minority in Parliament is demanding answers from the government regarding the $2 million investment with
It is recalled that the report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana- Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions for 2021 stated that the Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings which is the special purpose vehicle was yet to obtain a license in the country.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Monday, July 17, Member of Parliament for Adaklu Kwame Agbodza said “In 2019, we all saw this picture from South Africa where the President, the Finance Minister the Minister for Railways, Honourable Joe Ghartey. The first time we heard it was when they issued a statement that Accra to get Sky Train and they called a huge amount of money even before Parliament was aware.
“When they returned to Ghana they started adding the pieces together and it turned out that the Government of Ghana encouraged an investor from South Africa to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle in Mauritius and before the company actually even starts to do feasibility studies someone in the government has decided to pay 2million dollars to this entity.
“Then this year January, the former Minister for Railway Honorable Joe Gharty gave an interview where he suggested that he never said that the Skytrain project was going to be funded by the government.
“If the government was not the one funding the Sky Train, what was the 2 million Dollars meant for? But the important question is this, when you have a situation where the Minister says in 2023 that he always believes that before the project takes off there should be a cabinet approval, there should be a parliamentary approval, PPA approval, since none of these things, in fact, the Auditor General report suggested that the company did not even have the license to operate this system they wanted to operate, so the question is, what was the reason for the government to act in the way to give out 2 million dollars? Who actually took the decision to pay this entity in Mauritius? Was Dr Bawumia, the chairman of the economic management team aware that without any recourse to the Public Procurement Act, it was wrong for any government entity to pay that kind of amount? Who authorized the payment of the 2 million Dollars in terms of the so-called feasibility? Which normal decision-maker pays out 2 million Dollars for feasibility to determine whether the project is bankable? This thing will only happen when it is an organized crime., when people are careless.”
Credit: 3news.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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