An elder with the Nzema Anyinase Catholic Church in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region identified as Nana Kojo has allegedly defiled a 17-year-old first year Senior High School student whilst casting out a bad spirit from her. The Ellembelle District Social Welfare Officer and paralegal of Western Region, Jonas Kabutey, tells Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa morning show that 38-year-old Nana Kojo is also a well-known herbalist in the area. “Apart from his position in the church, he is labeled as a herbalist and people go to him with their problems. The teenager was taken to him for spiritual assistance and he took advantage of her,” he indicated. The teenager (name withheld) who claims to be a virgin before visiting the house of the herbalist, in an interview, confirmed that the herbalist has slept with her three different times in the name of casting a bad spirit from her. “He told me there is a bad spirit chasing me so he needed to cast it out else I can never give birth. When my father took me to his house, he asked if I had taken my bath and I said no. He then asked me to go and fetch water and take my bath. When I came back, he took me to his room and told me he has to insert his manhood in my vagina to enable him take out the bad spirit from me. He said I cannot give birth if he does not break my virginity. He slept with me three different times but I could not tell anyone because I thought it was part of the healing process since my father had told me to be submissive to him whilst healing me,” she narrated. She adds that the herbalist, who is already with two wives, promised to make her his third wife, a proposal she declined. “He later told me that I was beautiful and he would want to marry me and make me his third wife but I declined. He said I have declined him because he is ugly but I told him I was young and was even still a virgin before visiting his premises,” she added. David Ndadiah, a brother to the teenager, indicates that the herbalist is pleading for the case to be settled at home but the family would want to pursue in court. “We have reported the case to the police station after medical forms were released" “The herbalist is here pleading for us to settle the case at home but we will not allow,” he indicated. In the meantime, the Ellembelle District Social Welfare Office is promising justice for the teenager. “We shall ensure justice is served. The teenager is currently going through psychological trauma and we will not allow the issue to be settled at home" “The case must be transferred to a higher court. I will advise parents to be vigilant if they send their teenage daughters to herbalists for cure,” Mr. Jonas Kabutey indicated. Credit: Connect FM

The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has distanced itself from the disturbing incident which saw a purported YEA personnel attached to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly’s city guard beat up a trader. The Agency says the culprit, who has been identified as Bright Agyei, had his contract exhausted and terminated before the first week of September; hence they cannot account for his actions neither can they be responsible for his gross brutal assault on the trader. In a disturbing video that has gone viral, a female trader at Kejetia, believed to be in her 50s, was seen maltreated and beaten to pulp by a personnel of the KMA city guard who was attached by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). But speaking on Akoma FM‘s current affairs and political show GhanAkoma Monday, September 19, Kumasi Metropolitan Coordinator for YEA Abubakar Razak explained “the culprit was once personnel [of the Community Police Assistant] of YEA who was detailed to KMA to work as city guard but their contract expired on the second week of August that is more than two weeks before the unfortunate incident occurred. So, on paper we don’t know Bright Agyei. The question is why will KMA still keep a personnel whose contract has been officially expired?” The Community Police Assistant (CPA) is part of the modules of YEA and personnel are detailed to assist police and in some cases KMA city guards to direct traffic and control stray traders from hawking within the busy stretch. It seems Wednesday’s altercation between the traders and the city guard went wayward after the video went viral and received heavy backlashes from the public. Although management of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has since condemned the incident, they are yet to take any criminal or civil action against the culprit. Joining the discussion was Justice and Security Convener for KMA Kyei Moses, who explained to host of the show Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that “that the culprit Bright Agyei is arraigned before a disciplinary committee and will be dealt with per the Assembly’s standing orders. The victim has been receiving health treatment and she’s responding steadily, nonetheless the issue will be followed to the last bit to ensure the right thing is done” Watch the video below: Story by: 3news.com

The Police have arrested the key suspect in the Wa murder case. Suspect Kankani Adongo, was arrested on 19th September, 2022 at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa after extensive collaboration between the Police and community search parties, the Police announced. The suspect is in custody and will be arraigned before the court to face justice. The Police earlier assured that they will continue to maintain law, order and security in the Wa Municipality and surrounding communities. A statement issued by the Police said the Special Purpose Police Intelligence and investigation teams working with members of the community on 18th September, 2022 discovered a body in a shallow grave at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa. The body was later identified by family members of the deceased as Seidu Baga who was reported missing on 16th September, 2022. The body was subsequently exhumed and conveyed to the Regional Hospital, Wa for autopsy and investigation. Police are providing clinical psychologists to offer psycho-social support to the family. “We wish to assure residents of the Wa Municipality and its environs that the special intelligence and investigation teams will continue to work around the clock with assistance from the affected communities to bring the perpetrators to face justice. “Operations and combat teams have also saturated the area to ensure the safety and security at all,” the statement said. Credit: 3news.com

Three persons are in the grip of the police for their alleged involvement in the re-bagging and illicit smuggling of government-subsidized fertilisers. They were picked up during a joint Customs, COCOBOD and Police swoop at a warehouse used for the operation in Amanfrom in the Greater Accra Region. Some of the local fertilisers re-bagged include the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) fertilisers, Sidalco fertilisers and some other sorts belonging to the Ghana COCOBOD. A total of 15 fully-loaded trucks were impounded. Nine of these trucks are with Burkinabe registration numbers, while six are Ghanaian registered. Each of the trucks contained at least 1,000 bags of re-bagged fertilisers. During the swoop, two warehouses with about 30 workers were discovered. The warehouses were packed with hundreds of PFJ and COCOBOD fertilisers, which according to officials, were originally meant for farmers. The COCOBOD fertilisers include Ccoa Ahoɔden, Omni Cocoa Aduane and Sidalco Cocoa Sodɔsoo 50kg fertilisers. According to the Principal Revenue Officer of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), David Dotse, “the Fertagro mix all of these fertilisers with the PFJ ones, together with some other one they claim they import from Egypt and re-bag them into other 50kg bags.” “If you look at the bags, they are labelled in English and French. The ones with the English labelling are the ones they circulate back into the Ghanaian market. But the ones in the French labelling with the Burkinabe flag on it are the ones they send straight to Burkina Faso,” he said. It is unclear how Fertagro secured all the local fertilisers because, according to COCOBOD officials, “these products are not sold directly on the local market.” The GRA, COCOBOD and Customs are collaborating with other state institutions to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, President of the Peasant Farmers Association, Dr Charles Nyaaba, said the discovery is not surprising. According to him, “this new expose is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a cartel of very powerful persons who take delivery of some of these fertilisers right at the port and move them to other locations but report back to the government that the fertilisers have been delivered to the farmers. “We have raised these concerns repeatedly, but nobody seems to care. When our fertilisers were loaded on donkey backs to cross our boarders out of the country, the Minister didn’t act. So, until we begin to take drastic action against this, the phenomenon will continue” he said. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

A woman, aged 41, has drowned with three children in a pit dug in the Keta Lagoon at Laklevikope, near Aflao, in the Ketu South Municipality. The incident happened on Saturday when Madam Yawa Apenu was allegedly fishing with Bridget Amewu, 14, and Daddy Amewu, 10 – her children- and a third child, Sitsofe Ahiawor, 8, who lived with the family. Mr Atitso Amewu, the widower, who was said to be on the expedition, however, managed to swim to safety. Some residents, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said they suspected that the pit was dug by the Seven Seas Salt Limited, which had an uncompleted dyke on its concessions in the area. But the company has denied the claim. In July, two people reportedly drowned along that stretch of the lagoon, when they attempted to fish. Mr Victor Ayaku, Assembly member for the area, in an interview with the GNA following that incident said that: “There’s no form of protection around the dykes, no demarcation and it’s almost like a death trap to unsuspecting residents who might want to go fishing in the lagoon.” But Mr Adams Mensah, the Public Relations Officer of Seven Seas Salt Limited, said the Company was not to blame last for Saturday’s disaster. He said the pit was outside the company’s concession and that it was a fish pond belonging to an individual who was not known to the Company. Expressing his sympathy over the loss of lives, he said that the mining company was ready to support the family of the deceased. He urged collaboration between them and stakeholders, especially the assembly members in communities where the Company had concessions, to work to prevent such avoidable deaths. Mr Mensah said though the Company had constructed signposts on danger, which it would start mounting on its concessions from Monday to ward off people and fishers from deep pit areas, it would also do education campaigns. People, he said, could use sticks to test the depth of the water while fishing to avoid disasters because some individuals had fish ponds created in the lagoon. Meanwhile, a Police source, which confirmed the incident to the GNA, said the bodies had been deposited at the morgue, while a meeting had been scheduled with the family of the deceased to help in investigations. Credit: GNA

The Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr. Clifford Braimah, has bemoaned the pollution of water bodies across the country. According to him, apart from the contamination from illegal mining activities, water bodies in the country are subjected to other pollutants. Citing the case of the Weija river, Dr. Braimah said he has observed the unwanted deposits that find their way into the river. These deposits, he said compromise the quality of the water, and hence the need for intensified efforts to sanitise Ghana’s water bodies. “If you go to Weija, that is an urban setting of Accra. If you go to Weija and look at the quality of the raw water in the Weija, you see it to be greenish. What it means is that organic material is being pushed into it. [And] one major organic material that is pushed in is people’s faecal matter”, he told host, Samson Lardy Anyenini on Newsfile on Saturday. The GWCL boss made these comments while contributing to discussions about the contamination of water bodies, and their resultant effects on human lives and economies. The issue of water contamination has been on the front burner over the last few weeks, following the re-arrest of galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang. Aisha and her accomplices were arrested on September 5, in Kumasi and currently facing prosecution for their illegal mining activities. Touching on this development, Dr. Clifford Braimah advocated the involvement of the Water Resources Commission in the fight against illegal mining in Ghana. According to him, this will strengthen the inter-agency efforts being employed to deal with the menace. Speaking on NewsFile, he explained that, the Water Resources Commission is a critical agency, whose mandate cannot be ignored if the fight against ‘galamsey’ will succeed. He however noted that the Commission is currently under-resourced, hence the need for it to be retooled. “For us in Ghana Water Company, we take the resource itself to produce water for citizens. But we do not have the role or the power to monitor the water bodies. It is the Water Resources Commission. "In all these activities that we’re carrying out, at what position have we placed the Water Resources Commission? Have you gone to the Water Resources Commission to look at even the offices they work in?”, Dr Braimah quizzed. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

The state funeral of the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is estimated to have cost around US$9 million. According to a post shared by AJ+, a social media publisher owned by Al Jazeera Media Network, the amount will now add to the estimated $116 million bill UK taxpayers pay every year to support the royals. “Queen Elizabeth's funeral cost an est. $9 million — adding to the est. $116 million bill UK taxpayers pay every year to support the royals. Due to the ceremony, hospitals canceled "non-urgent" services like cancer treatment and many food banks have closed "out of respect,” the post shared on Twitter read. On Monday, September 19, dozens across the world witnessed the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II who died on September 8, 2022. The British Monarch has been lying in state from Edinburgh in Scotland all through to Westminster Hall in London with a final ceremony held at Westminster Abbey, where her final funeral rites was held in front of an expected crowd of about 2,000 persons. Dozens of heads of state and dignitaries including Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo have travelled from all over the world to London for the funeral. After the service, the Queen will be taken in a procession across London to Windsor Castle. Her interment will take place at the St. George’s Chapel inside Windsor Castle after a committal service. Queen Elizabeth's funeral cost an est. $9 million — adding to the est. $116 million bill UK taxpayers pay every year to support the royals. Due to the ceremony, hospitals canceled "non-urgent" services like cancer treatment and many food banks have closed "out of respect." pic.twitter.com/fFRKGWIG5a — AJ+ (@ajplus) September 19, 2022 The royals cost UK taxpayers $116M a year — almost half used for upkeep of their land holdings. Meanwhile, ▪️ 2.4 million people in the UK can't afford to eat every day ▪️ 2.6 million children without regular access to healthy food ▪️ Food insecurity up ~60% from start of year pic.twitter.com/LtWQ8iCZZC — AJ+ (@ajplus) September 19, 2022 Credit: Ghanaweb

Lead counsel for illegal mining (galamsey) kingpin, Aisha Huang, Captain Nkrabea Effah-Dartey, has justified his decision to render legal services to the embattled Chinese national. Amidst public criticisms for his provision of legal service to Aisha Huang, Captain Effah-Dartey, who is a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, says his service to his client is largely for its monetary benefits. "People who are blaming me for defending Aisha Huang don't know what they are saying. "I have a wife, children and grandchildren, so I'm only working for my daily bread. "I'm defending Aisha Huang for my daily bread", he said. He was speaking with Kwesi Parker-Wilson on Kumasi-based Oyerepa FM's news analysis show, Ghana Te Sen, and monitored by GhanaWeb. Asked if he would withdraw his services should the Akufo-Addo-led government appoint him, he said, "If government gives me an appointment to stop defending Aisha Huang, of course, I will stop." He added that "anytime you see me defending Aisha Huang, it means she has paid me fully. As we speak, I've been paid fully." Meanwhile, the lawyer expressed concern about access to his client, saying, "my only worry is that I find it difficult to get access to my client. I feel the state is not treating her fairly." He, however, expressed optimism that his client will be discharged of the charges pressed against her as he believes the state lacks evidence to prove the charges. Background Ms. Huang, in 2017, was charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). She was also charged with providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, contrary to Section 59 and 99 (2) of the Minerals and Mining Act; and also charged with illegal employment of foreign nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations). Her case was, however, discontinued, and she was deported. Her deportation meant the state discontinued the trial against her. She, however, found her way back into the country, leading to her recent arrest. A court last week remanded Aisha Huang and three other Chinese nationals into custody to reappear on charges of illegal gold mining and trading. Her recent arrest is on the same issue of illegal mining. Credit: Ghanaweb

Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral Monday that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers — and crowds who massed along the streets of London to honour a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. Elizabeth's funeral procession arrived at the west gate of the medieval abbey shortly before the service at 11 a.m. Pallbearers lifted the coffin from the state gun carriage and carried it inside the Gothic structure. David Hoyle, the dean of Westminster, began the service offering prayers for her family and recognizing "her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years." The service, taking place where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953, was attended by 2,000 people, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. In addition, about 200 members of the British public previously recognized during this year's Queen's Jubilee for volunteer efforts were in attendance. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke at the service, telling the congregation that the grief felt by so many across Britain and the wider world reflected the late monarch's "abundant life and loving service." "Her late majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth," he said. "Rarely has such a promise been so well kept. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen." Near the end of service, two minutes of silence were observed in the Abbey and throughout the United Kingdom. The congregation then sang God Save the King, with a piper's lament bringing the Anglican service to an end. The service was being followed by a procession through the streets of London to take the Queen's coffin to Windsor, where there will be a committal service and a private service for Royal Family members. She will later be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle alongside her husband, Prince Philip, her parents and the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret. Below are some pictures: Credit: CBC News

Three days before Valentine’s Day 2018, I discovered my husband of 13 years was cheating on me. Just 72 hours later, I participated in a student-led Valentine’s Day Q&A panel at the university where I teach as a psychologist with interests in social technologies. Ironically, the students wanted the panel to talk about healthy relationships and love. I didn’t experience the panel as painful, but I still have no idea how I got through that event other than the protection provided by being in a state of shock. I do recall talking about how unhealthy it would be to use technology to constantly track your partner’s location due to mistrust, which was also completely ironic considering I was about to track my husband’s location due to mistrust. My discovery began with a text message, in which my then-husband told me about an amazing church he was visiting in North Carolina, where he had supposedly traveled for a work trip. He sent me photos of the singers on the stage, noting the name of one of the singers in particular, so I could find her music later. My husband, who told me he attended the church with a work buddy, explained that he enjoyed the service so much, he wanted to share the experience with me. I told him he was lucky to be there for that special occasion for the church. But all it took was a simple Google search of the singer’s name and the date of the event to learn the church was in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since we’d lived there before, I’m sure my husband knew he wasn’t in North Carolina. I repeatedly watched video footage I found of that church service, and eventually, I saw my husband standing big as day in a yellow sweater vest I bought him, texting me with one hand, and holding another woman’s hand with the other. I was so stunned ― I realized my body was completely still, and I was holding my breath. It felt as though the world was going to fall apart if I exhaled. That moment four years ago set off what would become the most excruciatingly painful next few months of my life. I didn’t confront my husband. Instead, I became my own private investigator and went on a quiet rampage. Dealing with bills made me anxious, and my husband said he was better at finances and management, so I let him handle them. I wondered what I didn’t know about. So I opened the piles of mail that were stacked neatly on the kitchen table, in our office or by his bedside. I found he had opened multiple credit cards in my name that I didn’t know about. A photo the author took at the Farragut Dog Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she witnessed her husband with another woman. These bills provided records of shopping trips, dinner dates and out-of-state concerts. I also found a Happy Holidays card thanking him for spending Christmas with another woman’s family in Tennessee (instead of his own two children, my step-daughters). That year, he had expressed his disappointment and frustration that he had to work on Christmas, but he attempted to assure me that he was out of state working on our hard-to-remedy financial hardships. He wanted me to see him as a loving, dedicated, family man taking care of his responsibilities. He’d call and text his daughters and me to check on our holidays (he had just done the same thing to us that Thanksgiving). This was the first time in our marriage he had ever missed two holidays, but he insisted that this unusual circumstance would end when this new work situation was more resolved. I also found receipts that showed he bought a hoverboard for that other woman’s daughter and gift cards for her parents. He bought nothing for his daughters, who I brought to Chicago to be with my family. I powered up his old computers and cell phones which provided the bulk of the materials that documented the pervasiveness of his cheating, which apparently started only a few years after we were married. I obtained receipts for flowers and communications with other women from his emails. I found sexually graphic pictures and text messages. I read intimate conversations. He would converse about me with some women and even went so far as to tell them about my infertility issues. I wondered if some of the women (there were at least 15 by my conservative estimate) knew about each other because some of them absolutely knew about me. The sheer amount of data I discovered, which spanned numerous years, was overwhelming. The man I learned about from all this evidence was not the husband I thought I had been married to for 13 years. I was heartbroken and embarrassed that I had never known about his infidelity, but I trusted and loved him, and I couldn’t believe he had done ― was doing ― this to me. I decided to make a few clandestine out-of-state trips of my own to see him cheating with my own eyes because despite everything I had found, I was still in denial. For one of the trips, I rented a small Jeep (my husband liked using my SUV for work trips because it was much smaller than his gas guzzler) and headed to Knoxville. I was unsure of what I’d do or find while I was there. I got a nice hotel for a couple of days, visited my old stomping grounds on The Hill at the University of Tennessee and attended service at the church where I first caught my husband cheating through their archived Facebook page live stream. I also began tracking my husband, which, thanks to the GPS system in my SUV, was easy to do. I followed him to Farragut Dog Park and parked on a hill that afforded me a perfect view of him and another woman. I saw what I needed to see and recorded a video of myself talking, while watching him cheat right in front of me. It helped soothe me and kept me calm. Since I learned of his affair through an online video, it felt poetic for my healing to start with making my own video. I never posted it on social media ― in that moment, it was just for me. The author at 4 years old with her Whiz Kid computer. “I developed a love of technology early in life,” she writes. After seeing the truth for myself, I now had no reason to hold this secret any longer. I told the people I cared about the most, who I believed deserved to hear the news from me: my stepdaughters and sisters-in-law. My husband found out I was leaving him through his own family. I didn’t waste my breath talking to him. When we did text, he continued to deny everything and claimed that our relationship would be better as soon as he finished his out-of-state training. He admitted to nothing. Before our divorce was finalized, my husband and the last woman he had been cheating with had a baby. Sadly, my health insurance company made a huge mistake when I transferred my health insurance to my own, separate policy (within the same company). It mistakenly placed that baby under my account! The claim was ultimately denied, but not before I saw the baby’s name, and when I did, a pain so deep within me spilled out of my mouth as a wail and a dry heave. My husband and I had been actively trying to get pregnant. During grad school, I created a list of gender-neutral names I wanted to use for a girl. My ex-husband took my top name and gave it to his son. When I saw that name on my computer screen while logged into my health insurance account, I felt as though there was nothing else this man could take from me. I wondered if the child’s mother knew that her baby daddy’s wife named her child. I wondered if she knew she wasn’t the only one. It took me a while to realize that blessings come in all varieties, and I feel fortunate that I never had a baby with him. In the months after my discovery and our split, I felt disgusted. My weight fluctuated. I had constant headaches. I continually wanted to cry but was too exhausted and dehydrated. I wanted to vomit, but I had nothing left to give. I made it a personal mission to delete his entire existence from my life ― starting with my social media. We were together for over 15 years, so this wasn’t going to be an easy feat. In a caffeine-induced manic state of determination, it took about a week to scrub out his digital presence. It certainly didn’t go perfectly because I stayed connected to close in-laws and select shared friends. I also was unable to delete pictures of him from my family’s social media pages, like old family reunion photos. These are digital remnants that I can never fully erase. Despite my research interests being in social technologies, I had never fully considered the anguish that digital technologies can cause. Since I was a young girl, I’d had a beautiful relationship with technology. Outside of my parents and my Aunt Ester, my first love was my first “computer,” a Whiz Kid. Years later, that very love of technology and gaming actually brought my husband and me closer together because it was our shared hobby. Technology had only brought me joy ― personally and professionally ― but I now understood there was another side of it that could bring suffering. The author waiting in the courthouse hallway before her divorce proceedings began. As I went through my divorce, which was finalized a few months before 2020, I realized that I may never become the researcher in social technology I had once hoped to be. It’s still too painful. Despite this ― and everything I’ve been through ― I always kept my head high. I continued teaching and working. I still run an active lab full of students who examine the complexities of social technologies. For the first time ever, I lived on my own and bought a car on my own. I knew that I could pay my bills because now I controlled my money. I also did what I needed to do to leave my ex’s toxicity behind. I confronted him once for leaving notes on my car at work, but I never saw him until our meeting at divorce court. I now have a new, wonderful partner. Because I had some trust issues, to say the least, we’re taking things slowly. In the beginning, we talked on the phone for hours like teenagers. He validates my experiences. He is empathetic and transparent. He buys me flowers. I chuckle when he leaves his email up on his laptop or leaves his phone unlocked with the screen up. I know it’s intentional, but I’m still at a place where I appreciate the intention. It’s nice to date someone so mild-tempered, trustworthy and consistent. I am still experiencing trauma from my marriage and my husband’s infidelity. Some of it may always remain unresolved because my ex-husband died last year. There are days when I wish I had told him that I knew everything he had done to me ― I’m still not sure he knew I was aware of the extent of his deception. Other days I feel empathy for him and the pain I know he experienced at the end of his life. Relationships are complicated. Love ― and the loss of it ― isn’t clear-cut. Betrayal is confusing and difficult, and the way forward can be just as confusing and difficult. But I am moving forward. Some of my family said it was ironic that I teach “Couples & Family Therapy” because I went through such a painful experience. But, just as an oncologist isn’t immune from developing cancer, I am no more immune to family difficulties than others. The difference may be how we respond and cope with life issues within our area of expertise and if we’re able to live the truth we espouse ― once we’ve discovered it, of course. Credit: Huffpost.com

Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will be unavailable for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. According to reports, the ruler of the Ashanti Kingdom has communicated the development to Buckingham palace. The queen died on Thursday, September 8, at age 96. Today, the funeral service will be held at Westminster Abbey before the coffin is taken away for committal and burial at Windsor. Otumfuo was invited through the Ghana High Commission in the UK and expected to be present for the Queen’s Lying-In-State, the King’s Reception and the State Funeral Services and the Foreign Secretary’s Reception. He was billed to be present together with his wife, Lady Julia Osei Tutu. It is unclear what has necessitated Otumfuo’s absence. However, sources close to the Manhyia Palace say the development has been communicated to King Charles III’s Household and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong has touted achievements of the Akufo-Addo government saying his region has been blessed with massive developmental projects. According to him, the region has seen major developments in road construction which has brought massive development to the region. The Minister touted the government's achievements in the Region during the Information Ministry's Regional Minister's Press Briefing held in Accra on Sunday. Mr Kwame Acheampong, stressed that, as they took office in 2017, the region had just about 145 kilometres of roads but they have increased the roads to 206 kilometres representing 142% of roads constructed since they took office till date. The Minister noted that, the government believes better road network in the region is the leading cause of development thereby, they have constructed steel brigdes to also help link the various communities in the region. The Regional Minister also outlined some of the achievements done in the health sector as he said, as part of the construction of the Agenda 111 Hospitals. He noted that government is also constructing a new Regional Hospital at Effiduase while other hospitals are also ongoing vigorously at the other sites. Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith