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The Spectator holds talk on breast cancer at Labone SHS
Raisa Sambou shares her story
The Spectator Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign ended with a health talk at the Labone Senior High School last week Friday in Accra.
Health experts took turns educating the students and other participants on breast cancer and how it could be treated.
A representative from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Promise Emmanuel Sefogah, advised the students to continue to exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle because it was one way of preventing breast cancer.
He stated that about 99 per cent of women were at risk of getting breast cancer and they must adopt the self-examination every month and go for clinical check up for early detection.
Dr Victoria Partey-Newman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ladybits Health and Wellness Clinics, urged women to continue to breastfeed their children exclusively because research showed that women who breastfed more often had fewer incidents of breast cancer.
She advised the students to report to any health facility when they felt any lump in their breasts, as early detection saved lives.
“Breast cancer is not a death sentence, be ambassadors of breast cancer in your homes, churches, and everywhere you find yourself to save lives,” she stressed.
Ms Esther Danquah and Ms Rosemary Akuffo Addo, midwives from the Kaneshie Polyclinic, demonstrated to the students how to do self-examination and urged them to do this exercise every month for early detection.
A survivor of breast cancer, Ms Raissa Sambou, shared her story with the students, stating that “breast cancer does not only affect middle-aged women or old women, it can affect every woman and there is a need to know your body and visit the hospital every year for examination.”
Before the talk, the Editor of The Spectator, Mr. Emmanuel Amponsah, emphasised that most women were losing their lives due to breast cancer and advised the students to give a listening ear to everything that would be discussed at the programme.
He again urged the students to educate their families, friends, and loved ones about this preventable disease.
The Editor stressed that self-examination and early detection would help save the situation in time and cautioned against stigmatisation.
Mr. Alfred Koomson, Marketing Manager of the New Times Corporation, publishers of The Spectator and Ghanaian Times, said the company brought this initiative to the doorstep of Labone Senior High School to continue to create awareness of breast cancer since they were the future leaders.
“About 2,000 women die every year, and the simplest fact is that we are taking breast cancer disease for granted,” he stressed.
The Headmistress of the Labone Senior High School, Mrs. Rejoice Akua Acolor applauded The New Times Corporation for this initiative and stressed the need for people to be educated on breast cancer because the disease was less talked about in the country.
The President of Times Ladies Association and Deputy Editor of The Spectator, Mrs. Georgina Quaitoo, asked the female students to do self-examination of breast cancer by themselves but not allow any man to touch their breasts, adding that “be cautious about what you eat in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
On behalf of the New Times Corporation, the Marketing Manager and the Editor of The Spectator donated first aid kits, sanitisers, and dewormers to the school.
Ace hiplife artiste Kwaku Duah, popularly known as Tic, an old student of the school, charged the atmosphere with his exciting tunes, which saw dignitaries at the event as well as the students dancing to the songs.
Koomson and representative from Kaneshie Polyclinic
The campaign, which began with a screening of the breast at the Kaneshie Market Complex under the theme, “Life Before and after Breast Cancer: A Future of Positivity and Hope,” was to create awareness about this non-communicable disease.
self examination on breast cancer
examination on breast cancer
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
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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