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Historic Lecture highlighting Sister City partnership between Fredericksburg, Virginia (VA) & Princess Town, Ghana (GH)

EDALL Chronicles
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Historic Lecture highlighting Sister City partnership between Fredericksburg, Virginia (VA) & Princess Town, Ghana (GH)

The Central Rappahannock Regional Library hosted a landmark cultural exchange on Wednesday, June 18, 2026, at 6:30 PM, as part of the “A Cultural Quilt” lecture series commemorating America’s 250th anniversary (VA250).

The Ghanaian Lecture, titled “A Cultural Quilt: The Sister City Relationship between Fredericksburg and Princess Town, Ghana,” was presented by Oral Ofori, award-winning digital media producer and Founder of TheAfricanDream Consultancy (T.A.D.).

This event marked a milestone in the 19-year sister city relationship between Fredericksburg and Princess Town; it is the first time a sitting Assemblyman (Mayor) travelled from Ghana to participate in a public program in Fredericksburg.

The Honorable Assemblyman of Princess Town, Lord Owusu Mensah, joined Ofori on stage to discuss the historic, economic, and cultural ties binding the two cities since their official twinning in 2006. Their joint appearance underscored a deepening commitment to diaspora engagement and municipal diplomacy under VA250, Virginia’s statewide commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Oral Ofori, born in Tema, Ghana, and now a U.S.-based Chief Consultant at T.A.D., traced the shared heritage between Virginia and Ghana’s Western Region in his talk.

“Princess Town and Fredericksburg are more than sister cities on paper,” says Ofori. “We are active partners in shaping a narrative of mutual respect and shared prosperity. The Mayor’s presence elevates this from a lecture to a diplomatic moment.”

The City of Fredericksburg has officially celebrated Fredericksburg-Ghana Friendship Day for the last three years on March 6, coinciding with Ghana’s Independence Day. This lecture served as an extension of that growing bond, fostering “people-to-people” partnerships that bridge the Atlantic.

Officials from Ghana’s Office of the Head of Local Government joined the event as special guests to show their support for this enduring international connection.

Event Details

What: Ghanaian Lecture – A Cultural Quilt Series, part of VA250

When: Wednesday, June 18, 2026, 6:30 PM

Where: Central Rappahannock Regional Library, 1201 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA

Admission: Free and open to the public

The “A Cultural Quilt” series explores the influence of Fredericksburg’s five sister city nations, including France, Ghana, Germany, Italy, and Nepal, on the fabric of America. The series is presented in partnership with the City of Fredericksburg, Central Rappahannock Regional Library, and local sister-city associations.

For further information, readers are encouraged to visit the official website for the City of Fredericksburg at www.fredericksburgva.gov and Princess Town Facebook page: www.facebook.com/princestownpokesu.

Watch/share video here:

https://youtu.be/OcZQSyfXJhc

 

Source: Sarah Artin

Angie Safo joins TECNO Ghana to spotlight the all-new CAMON Slim

Osafo Daniel
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Angie Safo joins TECNO Ghana to spotlight the all-new CAMON Slim

The social media influencer will spark online buzz around the latest offering from TECNO through her lens.

Known for her engaging mix of lifestyle content and entrepreneurial undertakings, Angela Nyamewaa Ama Safowaa better known as Angie Safo, will bring her creative flair and content creation talent to TECNO’s latest campaign, helping build excitement around the brand’s new budget-friendly CAMON Slim smartphone.

The month-long collaboration will see her incorporate the smartphone into her daily routine. In line with this, Angie will share posts that highlight the CAMON Slim’s camera, features and everyday performance. The idea is to prove that great tech doesn’t always have to break the bank.

“As someone who’s familiar with their products, I’m excited to work with TECNO Ghana for the CAMON Slim,” Angie shared. “Smartphones have become a big part of how we connect, create, and share our stories with the world, and the brand’s commitment to delivering such quality at affordable prices is commendable. I’m eager to help my audience experience the best value TECNO has to offer through a lifestyle lens.”

With influencers now an established force in driving product sales, the collaboration reflects TECNO Ghana’s commitment to bridging technology and culture. By working with creators who resonate with younger, tech-savvy audiences, the brand is confident it can change misconceptions around what a budget smartphone is, or can be. And with the likes of Angie Safo as a collaborator, such change feels well within reach.

TCDA Joins Nationwide Sanitation Drive as CEO Leads Staff in Clean-Up Exercise

Prosper Kay
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TCDA Joins Nationwide Sanitation Drive as CEO Leads Staff in Clean-Up Exercise

The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) has reaffirmed its commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible citizenship by actively participating in the National Clean-Up Exercise, with its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Andy Osei Okrah, leading Management and Staff in the exercise.

The clean-up activity formed part of the nationwide sanitation campaign spearheaded by H.E. President John Dramani Mahama and observed across the country from July 10 to 11, 2026, to promote cleaner communities and strengthen public awareness on environmental hygiene.

Demonstrating leadership by example, Dr. Osei Okrah joined staff members in clearing weeds, collecting refuse and cleaning the Authority’s surroundings, underscoring the importance of collective action in maintaining a healthy environment.

The CEO described environmental cleanliness as a shared national responsibility that requires sustained commitment from both institutions and individuals. “The success of our national development agenda depends not only on economic growth but also on the cleanliness and health of our environment. Every citizen and institution has a role to play in keeping Ghana clean.”

Dr. Osei Okrah praised the dedication and enthusiasm exhibited by Management and Staff during the exercise, noting that their participation reflected TCDA’s culture of service, discipline and commitment to national development.

He also urged stakeholders across the tree crops sector, including farmers, aggregators, processors, exporters and industry associations, to embrace good sanitation practices within their operations. According to him, maintaining clean production, storage and processing environments is essential to safeguarding product quality, protecting public health and enhancing Ghana’s competitiveness in international markets.

The CEO further encouraged TCDA’s Zonal Officers nationwide to champion sanitation initiatives within their respective operational areas and to promote proper waste management practices throughout the tree crops value chain.
TCDA’s participation in the National Clean-Up Exercise highlights the Authority’s dedication to supporting government efforts to improve sanitation while fostering sustainable practices that contribute to the growth and resilience of Ghana’s tree crops industry.

Korle Bu Cath Lab Reopens 16 Months After Fire

News Ghana
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Korle Bu Cath Lab Reopens 16 Months After Fire

President Mahama commissioned a rebuilt cardiac catheterisation laboratory at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on Thursday, restoring a facility he first opened in 2017 that a fire destroyed in March 2025.

The original lab, commissioned by Mahama in January 2017, had let cardiologists in Ghana perform angiograms, angioplasty, stent placement and pacemaker implantation locally for eight years, sparing patients trips abroad for procedures that guide catheters through blood vessels using X-ray and fluoroscopy imaging. A fire on March 7, 2025 destroyed the facility, disrupting emergency cardiac care at the country’s premier referral hospital. The Ghana Medical Trust Fund, known as MahamaCares, assessed the damage in January 2026 and chose to rebuild a larger, more advanced version rather than simply replace what was lost. Construction ran from February 17 to July 2026, under five months. “We celebrate the creation of something even better than what we lost,” Mahama said at the commissioning.

The National Cardiothoracic Centre, which will run the lab, currently performs about 600 cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgeries a year and logs roughly 12,000 patient visits, including about 1,500 new referrals, according to its director, Dr Kow Entsua-Mensah. Even before formally resuming full operations, the facility is set to host a cardiac intervention programme beginning July 12 in partnership with visiting American cardiologists, the Mount Carmel Foundation and Africa World Airlines, in which 30 patients selected from across the country will undergo complex cardiac device procedures.

The Korle Bu rebuild is part of a wider expansion of catheterisation labs to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi and Tamale Teaching Hospital, a push that followed the death of a Komfo Anokye doctor, Dr Kwame Adu Ofori, who suffered a heart attack requiring the kind of intervention a cath lab provides and died before he could reach one in Accra. Mahama said MahamaCares now carries a GH¢2.3 billion allocation covering not just patient treatment but infrastructure and workforce training, including a newly approved cohort of 500 critical care nurses, the first of whom have begun training at Korle Bu. He also announced a new subsidiary, Ghana Medical Equipment Services Limited, to maintain hospital equipment going forward, and said procurement had begun for a new maternity block to replace the hospital’s aging Gordon-Guggisberg building, which he described as a safety risk to mothers and staff.

AWS Open-Sources Loom To Secure AI Agents

News Ghana
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AWS Open-Sources Loom To Secure AI Agents

Amazon Web Services released Loom, an open source platform that deploys AI agents from fixed configurations rather than code generated at runtime, aiming to close a security gap enterprises face scaling agents.

The design choice sits at the center of what Loom is trying to solve. Many agent platforms generate code on the fly to handle each new request, but that code counts as untrusted and needs its own isolated environment to run safely, adding complexity for security teams. Loom instead builds agents once using AWS’s open source Strands Agents SDK and deploys them onto Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime through configuration alone, so the underlying code can be reviewed and scanned a single time rather than re-checked with every deployment. AWS engineer Heeki Park, who introduced the platform, said it “gives builders the ability to easily create agentic applications” while keeping security and governance built into the deployment process itself.

On governance, Loom enforces three mandatory tags on every deployed resource, with room for organizations to add their own for cost tracking, and applies a two dimensional access model that pairs user roles with group tags to scope permissions. Credentials and behavioral rules are kept out of the platform entirely and pulled from AWS Secrets Manager only when needed, while inbound and outbound authentication runs through AgentCore Identity using OAuth2 and token exchange, so a user’s identity carries through an entire chain of agent requests rather than getting lost between steps. For actions considered sensitive, Loom adds human approval checkpoints built on the Strands Agents hook framework and Model Context Protocol elicitations, and it connects to the AWS Agent Registry, still in public preview, so agents and tools clear a governance review before reaching production.

AWS is offering Loom through AWS Labs on GitHub and inviting outside contributions, pitching it specifically at platform engineering teams building on fully managed AWS services rather than as a general purpose product. The release extends Bedrock AgentCore, which reached general availability in October 2025 after AWS first launched Bedrock Agents in late 2024, and arrives as enterprise agent tooling has become a crowded field, with OpenAI’s Agents SDK, Google’s Gemini agent framework and startups such as Cognition, maker of the Devin coding agent, all competing for the same enterprise deployments.

Court Injunctions Halt More NPP Constituency Polls

News Ghana
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Court Injunctions Halt More NPP Constituency Polls

A Kumasi High Court has suspended NPP constituency elections in Bantama and Manso Nkwanta for 10 days, adding to a wave of court challenges disrupting the party’s internal polls nationwide.

In the Bantama case, Justice Aberinga Anafo George granted an interim injunction sought by three party members, Marcus James Kwadwo Osei, Paul Asare and Enock Ofori-Amanfo, against the NPP, its Ashanti Regional Representative Prince Karikari and Constituency Chairman Fifi Mensah. The order restrains the respondents from “conducting, proceeding with or completing the Constituency Executive Elections” in Bantama for 10 days. The plaintiffs were represented by Belinda Opoku Mensah, led by Akwasi Agyemang Badu. The suit follows weeks of internal tension in the constituency over its polling station album of delegates, with some local executives and grassroots coordinators alleging that long serving delegates were being removed from the register and replaced with unapproved or fictitious names, a dispute that had already spilled into a heated on air exchange on a Kumasi radio station before reaching court.

In the second case, Justice William Osei-Kuffour granted Clement Opoku Agyemang an injunction against the NPP’s national headquarters, its General Secretary, the Ashanti Regional Chairman and Manso Nkwanta Constituency Chairman Benjamin Boakye, halting the constituency election that had been scheduled for July 11 and 12 until the underlying case is resolved. The court ordered that the writ of summons, statement of claim and injunction be formally served on all respondents.

The two rulings extend a pattern that has touched NPP constituencies well beyond Ashanti Region in recent weeks. A Sunyani High Court injunction has separately halted Sunyani East’s constituency election over the disqualification of several aspirants, while earlier suits produced injunctions covering the Afigya Sekyere East polling station album and the Tarkwa-Nsuaem electoral area elections in the Western Region. The party’s Central Regional chairmanship race also remains unresolved, held up by its own court injunction after the rest of the country’s regional elections were completed. The recurring theme across the cases is disputes over how constituency delegate rolls and candidate eligibility have been handled ahead of the nationwide exercise, which forms part of the NPP’s post 2024 reorganisation before the 2028 general election.

Amin Adam Defends Mosque, Points To School Projects

News Ghana
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Amin Adam Defends Mosque, Points To School Projects

Former Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam defended his 6,000 capacity Tamale mosque against critics who said the money could have funded factories, pointing to years of education spending in Karaga.

In an interview, the Karaga MP listed classroom blocks he said he had built or supported at the Northern School of Business, Tamale Senior High School, Markaziyya Islamic School and Pishigu Senior High School, along with a dormitory at Ambariyya Islamic Institute and the establishment of Nyong Technical Institute. He said Pishigu SHS and Nyong Technical Institute were funded through companies he sourced rather than government money, and pointed to a stalled Karaga STEM College of Education that he said would have been Ghana’s first STEM focused teacher training college had funding come through. He also cited scholarship schemes running in Karaga, Aboabo and Zogbeli, and for journalists in Tamale.

On the mosque itself, Amin Adam rejected the idea that Masjid Al-Noor serves worship alone, pointing to the Sheikh Adam Issah Centre for Islamic Research, an Islamic library and offices for the Noorul Hayat Foundation charity built into the complex. “You don’t abandon your faith just because you are a politician,” he said, framing the project as continuing work he had done as an Islamic educationist before entering politics.

The mosque, which seats about 6,000 worshippers indoors with room for another 4,000 outside and up to 10,000 during major gatherings, drew a notably high profile commissioning audience, including former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, National Chief Imam Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu and the Imam of Abuja’s National Mosque, Professor Ibrahim Ahmed Maqari. Amin Adam donated GH¢300,000 as seed funding for its operations at the ceremony. He also used the occasion to caution Imams directly against using sermons to attack individuals, urging them instead to preach peace, unity and moral values, remarks that drew a visibly emotional reaction from parts of the audience.

Wontumi Pitches NPP Unity Amid Own Mining Trial

News Ghana
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Wontumi Pitches NPP Unity Amid Own Mining Trial

Ashanti Regional Chairman Wontumi pledged to reunite the NPP and personally engage Kennedy Agyapong if elected national chairman, campaigning as he awaits judgment in his own illegal mining trial.

Speaking in a virtual engagement with the NPP’s Asia and Pacific Caucus, Wontumi said he was ready to lead the party’s rebuilding effort after its 2024 election defeat. “I am built for this battle, and I am fully prepared,” he said, promising to strengthen ties with grassroots members and diaspora branches he admitted the party had previously failed to engage effectively. He proposed consultations on widening the membership base allowed to elect party executives, framed overseas branches as partners in fundraising and voter mobilisation ahead of 2028, and said discipline within the party should be balanced with reconciliation, arguing that punishments already imposed had served their purpose.

On Kennedy Agyapong specifically, Wontumi said dialogue was needed for the party’s future and that he would personally seek an opportunity to engage him. Agyapong, a former presidential aspirant, was referred to the NPP’s National Disciplinary Committee in late June over petitions accusing him of anti party remarks, including criticism of the leadership over the stalled Afari Military Hospital project and comments suggesting he could expose internal wrongdoing. The committee was given two weeks from June 25 to report its findings to the National Council, which has not yet announced an outcome.

Wontumi’s own standing within the party is not free of friction either. Agyapong’s campaign team called last September for disciplinary action against Wontumi himself, accusing him of reckless and divisive remarks alleging that the NPP’s presidential primary schedule had been arranged to favour a particular candidate, a claim the party leadership publicly distanced itself from at the time. Separately, Wontumi is a defendant in an ongoing criminal trial over alleged illegal mining at Samreboi in the Western Region, accused alongside his company, Akonta Mining Limited, of assigning mineral rights without approval and facilitating unlicensed mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve. He has pleaded not guilty. The High Court was originally set to deliver judgment on July 3, but adjourned to July 20 after Wontumi’s newly appointed lawyer sought more time to prepare, a request the Attorney General’s office opposed.

Members of the Asia-Pacific Caucus pledged support for the party’s rebuilding effort and for mobilising Ghanaians abroad ahead of the 2028 election.

GSE Turnover Surges As Weekly Trading Rebounds

Roger A. Agana
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GSE Turnover Surges As Weekly Trading Rebounds

Ghana Stock Exchange turnover value jumped 54 percent last week as the benchmark GSE Composite Index closed Friday at 14,805.95 points, up 0.8 percent from the previous week.

Trading value for the week of July 6 to 10 reached GH¢67.14 million, up from GH¢43.58 million the prior week, while volume rose 49 percent to 20.63 million shares from 13.85 million. Market capitalization climbed to GH¢287,123.51 million, a gain of about 0.45 percent on the week and 66.89 percent since the start of the year. The GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) is now up 68.82 percent year to date, while the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI), which added 0.40 percent on the week to close at 8,240.66 points, has gained 77.33 percent so far in 2026.

Two stocks drove most of the week’s activity. MTN Ghana accounted for GH¢37.16 million of value traded, the largest single contributor and the main reason the ICT sector led all sectors by value with a 56.24 percent share of the market. Kasapreko was the week’s most actively traded stock by volume at 9.55 million shares and helped push the Food and Beverage sector to a 51.37 percent share of total volume traded, worth GH¢18.4 million. CAL Bank, IIL and Hords Limited rounded out the five most active stocks by volume, while GCB Bank, CAL Bank and Ecobank Ghana followed MTN and Kasapreko as the most active by value.

Among individual price movers, IIL led gainers with a 55.56 percent jump to GH¢0.28 a share, part of a 460 percent advance since January. Hords Limited rose 27.27 percent, CPC gained 15.38 percent and CLYD climbed 12.58 percent, the last of which is up 598 percent year to date, the steepest gain among the week’s tracked movers. SCB Preference shares added 10 percent and GOIL rose 6.40 percent. On the losing side, RBGH fell 1.75 percent, the week’s weakest performer, followed by declines of 0.91 percent at ETI, 0.17 percent at SIC and 0.14 percent at SCB. Of the 17 stocks tracked as market movers, 13 advanced against four declines, and the average price change across that list was a gain of 7.83 percent.

Daily figures show volume falling in every session, from 4.98 million shares on Monday to 3.47 million by Friday, even as value traded swung sharply, dropping to GH¢9.56 million on Tuesday before peaking at GH¢18.30 million on Thursday. Market capitalization rose steadily through the week regardless, climbing from GH¢286,098.45 million on Monday to Friday’s close.

Kumasi Officer Probed Over Sex Work Rentals

News Ghana
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Kumasi Officer Probed Over Sex Work Rentals

The Ashanti Regional Police Command is investigating an unnamed Chief Inspector accused of owning unauthorized structures at Kumasi’s Asafo BB and renting them to sex workers.

A statement dated Friday from the command’s Public Affairs Unit said the officer is accused of owning wooden structures at Asafo BB, a busy transport and commercial hub in Kumasi, and leasing them to commercial sex workers. The statement did not name the officer, confirm whether the structures are formally registered to him, specify what offence is under consideration, or say whether he has been suspended or reassigned while the investigation continues. “The Command takes the allegations seriously,” said Superintendent Godwin Ahianyo, head of the Public Affairs Unit, adding only that further developments would be communicated as the investigation proceeds.

The case surfaces in the same neighborhood the police themselves targeted just weeks earlier. Between June 8 and June 17, the Ashanti Regional Police Command and the Inspector General’s Special Operations Team ran a joint crackdown across eight communities, including Asafo, arresting 186 people on suspicion of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, narcotics trafficking and illegal firearms possession, among them a suspect known as “Mama Gee” accused of running a trafficking network. Asafo BB itself has been flagged for years as a persistent hotspot for commercial sex work operating largely unchecked, with past reporting describing local enforcement efforts there as an uphill struggle.

Neither the current allegation nor the Chief Inspector’s identity has been independently confirmed beyond the police statement, and no charges have been announced. The Ashanti command’s Public Affairs Unit has in recent months also disclosed other internal misconduct cases, including a separate investigation into an inspector accused of defilement in a different part of the region, as the service continues efforts to enforce professional standards among its ranks.

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