Hot!
Stars, no distractions!
Many Ghanaians have been sitting on tenterhooks, following a vicious protest filed to FIFA by the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) against Ghana as regards its Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying loss to the Black Stars.
The South Africans, evidently sour losers to the Stars, had claimed match-manipulation amongst others, hugely culminated in the 1-0 defeat; also fingering Senegalese Referee MaquetteNdiaye as part of the plot.
Well, as of putting this piece together, FIFA – the world football controlling body, was yet to make a pronouncement on the matter. That is a bit strange. Wonder why this case should take more than two weeks to adjudicate. Maybe, the delay was necessary because of SA’s allegations of match-manipulation which has to be proven beyond every reasonable doubt FIFA.
Whichever way, it would be one of the greatest wonders in world football should FIFA order a replay of the game – the relief SAFA is desperately seeking – unless it can clinically provide evidence of matching manipulation.
Having been bowled out from both next year’s African Nations Cup and the Qatar World Cup, it is obvious South Africa are in extreme pain that can only be assuaged by a FIFA replay dispensation of the Cape Coast game.
It would not happen!
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) must not be sweating over the SAFA protest but rather start planning about the next AFCON which four-time champions Ghana has not won for four decades – 40 good years!
It is a huge ignominy and sheer embarrassment – even to African football that the Stars are yet to annex the continental Holy Grail, all this while.
That must be the prime focus of the GFA now, to break that Stygian disquieting ‘silence’ that has left many experts of continental football utterly confounded.
What this means is that Ghana would have to send a formidably winsome team to the biennial football festival in Cameroon and give the campaign a big crack in its bid to put that missing smile on the faces of Ghanaians.
Once we are able to present a solid contingent in Cameroon, we are also sure of putting forth an equally tremendous outfit capable of taking care of our World Cup play-off in March 2022.
Our Black Stars may not be playing spectacularly well at the moment but have strongly proven that they can rise to the occasion when the stakes are high.
What the players need now is to show a lot more sense of commitment and purpose without which they do not stand a chance of achieving their targets.
Of course, they also need an unflinchingly consummate backing from Ghanaians, especially when the going becomes uncompromisingly tough.
No distractions! Focus!
PlainTalk with John Vigah
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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