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Sustain local textile industry… stakeholders appeal at Weaving Festival
• Some weavers displayed their products
Eager to sustain local industries in the country, the Nubuke Foundation, a private Visual Art and Cultural Institution has opened the 2023 Woori (Weaving) Festival with a call on the public to support in keeping the local textile industry in operation by patronising their products.
The Woori festival is organised yearly to celebrates the weaving and artisanal skills and practices of the people in the Upper West Region and also create a platform for networking, fashion, trading opportunities for participants, traditional music and dance and also promote local dishes.
The Director of the Nubuku Foundation Ms. Odile Tevie, who addressed patriots at the third edition of the festival at Loho in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region, said the festival was aimed at showcasing the weaving industry as the wealth of the region and also to portray Wa as the region’s weaving capital.
“Weavers are passionate about seeing increased development in their communities, they provide opportunities for school drop-outs and also reduce migration of the youth, therefore I appeal to all to recognise this and work with them to bring economic empowerment to the society,” she said.
She believed that the unique weaving and clay culture of the region was one of the anchors of economic growth for families and communities’ particularly women.
She said over the years, the Foundation through its partners had provided training for the weavers to enable them to expand their skills, adopt and employ innovation and explore market opportunities by connecting them to peer networks within Ghana, Mali, Cote d’ Ivoire and other places.
“In keeping with the idea of independence, the festival highlights the diverse innovation and creativity taking place within the weaving communities and schools, especially in Wa, Nadowli, and Nandom,” she said.
She said the Foundation hoped to stimulate economic transformation within the region with the support of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretariat, in partnership with the Arts in West Africa (AWA), an ACP-EU Culture Programme, and the Centre Culturelle Kore and Institut Francais.
The Regional Director for Tourism, Mr. Moses Ndebugri, said his outfit was working together with other partners to promote the creative arts industry and the domestic tourism industry.
“The Ministry recognises the fact that weaving, clay pottery, fashion, food , customs, music and the dance showcased today explicitly depict among others, your way of life which you have promoted locally and internationally,” he said.
From Rafia Abdul Razak Wa
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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