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The Brentford example …GFA, NSA must emulate
“You can only become a good artist by copying the masters,” Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, a French neoclassical painter, once said many years ago.
Impliedly, copying, for the right reasons is not a crime especially when the motive or focus is to improve something – it may be a product or an event.
As humans or institutions, copying usually happens to attain some level of conformity or influence. 
Perhaps, the Ghana Premier League non-conformity with some of the best leagues across the world was the reason why a development ahead of last Sunday’s match day one English Premier League (EPL) fixture between Brentford and Tottenham Hotspurs drew my attention to a few things often taken for granted.
The aforementioned game was scheduled to start at exactly 2pm so when the kickoff was delayed, it raised eyebrows among followers of the EPL. It emerged that the match was delayed due to sanitation issues inside the venue.
The actual problem was that water was not sinking into the ground and that affect everyone at the Gtech Community Stadium. The toilets and kitchens were the immediate cause of concern as there was no flow of water from the taps at the venue, prompting fears that the match could not get underway.
Interestingly, water flowing to the toilets – something often disregarded at our match venues including the major stadia across the country – was a major concern for the EPL. It was so significant that it warranted a halt to the match day activities, including delaying kick-off until the problem was fixed.
As a matter of urgency, the problem was eventually resolved less than 10 minutes into the match as normal service resumed, and water sank into the ground.
The development was one I’ll urged the Ghana Football Association (GFA), the organisers of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) and the National Sports Authority (NSA) to copy and implement in the coming season.
Fact is, the state of washrooms at the various stadia, especially the Accra Sports Stadium is nothing to write home about. As the closest venue, it feels comfortable restricting this piece to the Accra facility although interaction with staff at the other major venues and colleagues based in the regions have confirmed the situation is the same.
On match days, a lot of fans can be seen perching at ‘corners’ and other hideouts to urinate because that is the only way to avoid the foul odour that emanates from the urinals which are unclean as a result of the lack of running water.
And with taps not flowing most of the time, fans are compelled to resort to the use of sachet water for different purposes, leaving the stadium in a mess after the games.
But if the English considers the issue of sanitation as a priority, it must equally be so to the organisers of the GPL and the NSA, managers of the stadium.
What is not clear is which party – be it the GFA, NSA or the home club, is responsible to ensuring that there is free flow of water and the provision of other needs of fans since most of the clubs do not own the stadia.
For instance, with electricity supply to the Accra Sports Stadium disconnected for over two weeks now, whose responsibility is it to provide power if there was a Premier League game to power floodlights, Public Address (PA) system and other equipment?
Maybe, in copying this brilliant example of the EPL, the GFA, NSA and clubs using some of these facilities with facilities in a sorry state must begin to dialogue over roles to play to ensure that GPL matches were played under very healthy and hygienic conditions.
We must not wait for a COVID-19 era to run helter-skelter preaching about sanitation and enforcing sanitation rules.
With or without a pandemic, the GFA, NSA and perhaps, the clubs must find a way to provide a healthy surrounding for the fans to watch their games. The English example is worth copying.
By Andrew Nortey
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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