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Teacher gets 12 years for defiling 8-year-old girl
Enoch
The Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court has sentenced Enoch Amponsah, a 28-year-old teacher at a private basic school at Kpong, to 12 years’ imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old girl.
He pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement at the court presided over by Mr Kwasi Appiatse Abaidoo.
Police Chief Inspector Daniel Apedo, said on October 19, 2023, the victim went for a weekend class organised by the school, and after closing, the accused told the victim to get him his laptop from the office.
The accused then followed her, removed her underwear, had sexual intercourse with her and warned her not to tell anyone else he would be punished.
He said the next day, the accused person lured the victim to his house which was adjacent the school, had another intercourse with her and repeated the act again on November 4, which caused the victim pain such that she could not walk properly.
Upon reaching home, her mother detected changes in the walking of her daughter, and when interrogated the victim said, “Sir Enoch,” as they affectionately called him, had sexual intercourse with her several times.
The accused person was arrested, and in his caution statement, admitted having intercourse with the victim several times.
Meanwhile, two teachers, who forged Judicial Service official receipts, have been sentenced to six years imprisonment each by an Accra Circuit Court.
Lordfred Heward Mills, the main architect of the crime was jailed in absentia while Lawrence Ansu Asante, the second accused person, was escorted by the Police to jail. This was after the court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah found them guilty on the charges of conspiracy to wit uttering of forged documents and uttering forged documents at the end of the trial.
The prosecution, led by Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, told the court that the complainant Eric Ansah Agyei, was a Pastor and a resident of Aburi.
It said Mills resided at Bubuashie and Asante, a resident of James- Town, were sureties in the case of Republic verses Jeffery Wilson Ofori, which was pending before Circuit Court four, then presided over by Mr Emmanuel Essandoh, now deceased.
The court heard that in June 2021, the complainant gave GH¢3, 500 to the accused persons, now convicts, to be paid on behalf of Jeffery Wilson Ofori, who was anaccused person in a case.
The prosecution said the accused persons (convicts) then hatched a plan to forge an official Judicial Service receipt and failed to pay the money to the court. It said the convicts then contacted one Boakye Boateng, who got them forge the Judicial Service official receipts.
It said the convicts later submitted a Judicial Service official receipt with the number 19/0263336 dated June 11, 2021, with a face value of GHC3, 500.
The prosecution said they then handed over the receipt to the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rita Asaah.
On November 23, 2021, the prosecutor presented the said receipt to the court, but it was rejected, with the judge ordering for the arrest of the convicts.
They were consequently escorted to the community 18 Police Station where they were detained for further investigations.
The prosecution said Mills mentioned one Boakye Boateng now at large as the one who issued them with the receipts at a fee of GH¢500. It said the remaining
GH¢3,000 was shared between the convicts. In their caution statements, the convicts admitted the offences before an independent witness.-—GNA
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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