H-A-P-P-Y

Shame!!!!đŸ„±

Author

Chale News
November 06, 2024

We don’t know about you, but when it’s hump day, we go crazy!

Happy mid-week, people. Hope so far, so good.

And what’s good here? We’ve got stories for daaaaaays!

  • Politics: Napo fires shots at Asiedu Nketiah over hometown neglect.

  • National: Ghana’s courts need to ‘Break it down’.

  • Health: Ghana’s rolling out a game plan to take sickle cell off the struggle bus.

  • Entertainment: Ghana’s epic Ewe folklore takes flight – now on United Airlines!

  • Crime: Dad of the Year? This Central Region father allegedly went full machete-mode on his own son over a simple errand gone wrong.

  • Fact of the Day: Do you know the world’s most expensive spice?

  • Regional: The military's back in action in Bawku, cracking down on shutdowns and opening doors—literally!

  • National: American anti-LGBTQ groups are dropping major coins in Africa, fueling anti-LGBTQ bills left, right, and center.

QUICK BYTE

  • Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, aka ‘Napo,’ is throwing shade at NDC Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, accusing him of turning his back on Seikwa, his own hometown. Napo claims Asiedu Nketiah’s done little to actually lift the place up, leaving roads, schools, and healthcare in a sorry state. For a guy who’s made it big, Napo suggests Asiedu Nketiah’s “hometown pride” feels a bit
 selective. Read more in the Deep Dive Section.

  • The UN’s guy for West Africa, Leonardo Santos SimĂŁo, dropped a little truth bomb for Ghana’s judiciary. He’s basically saying, “Hey, y’all are doing great, but can we maybe stop sounding like legal textbooks?” Yep, the courts are holding it down for democracy but could use a serious lesson in plain speaking so regular folks aren’t left scratching their heads. Want the deets in full? Check out the Deep Dive section.

  • In Twifo Hemang, we’ve got Yaw Ansah, a 47-year-old dad, who’s been arrested for allegedly going full machete-mode on his 7-year-old son after the little guy struggled with an errand. Witnesses say young dude was sent to hack down a palm fruit (yes, machetes were actually involved), but he couldn’t manage. Next thing the neighbors knew, the poor kid’s screams echoed across the town, his wrist slashed. Get the 411 in the Deep Dive section below

  • 15,000 Ghanaian babies are born each year with sickle cell – that’s like an entire stadium of babies, all needing support! So Ghana’s health gurus just launched a national strategy to tackle the disease – and not in the “we’ll get to it when we get to it” kinda way. This plan, active till 2028, is all about bringing awareness, breaking stigma, and making sure people with sickle cell get the care they need. Read more

  • Ghana’s own “The Rise of a Warrior Hunter” is giving travelers some serious in-flight entertainment goals! Mark Cofie Jnr.’s epic, rooted in rich Ewe folklore, just landed on United Airlines flights, so passengers can now vibe with the legendary journey of Detor and his twin sons, Atsu Tsaala and Etse Tsaali, 30,000 feet up. Since its premiere in March, it’s been the talk of film festivals, and now, thanks to hard work and Mark’s star crew, it’s up in the skies! Hard work really does pay off when you’re “warrior-hunting” your way to Hollywood levels! Read more

FACT OF THE DAY

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The world's most expensive spice is saffron. It’s so boujee it out-prices gold.

  • Things got intense in Bawku this week as the military had to step in to unlock the local Municipal Assembly office, which had been forcefully closed by unidentified locals amid a brewing chieftaincy dispute. This all went down on November 5, just a day after the Bawku and Binduri Assembly offices were padlocked by a group demanding the arrest of Alhaji Seidu Abagre, a newly-returned rival chief. So what does the town look like now? Chaos, with a side of 6 to 6 curfews. Schools have emptied out as teachers and students seek safety elsewhere, the Ghana Water Company and NEDCo have pulled out, leaving residents to fend for themselves without water or electricity. Read more

  • According to the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, US anti-LGBTQ groups, facing pushback at home, have decided it’s time to play Big Brother in Africa. They’ve ramped up their funding by nearly 50% since 2019, dropping over $16 million from 2019 to 2022, and now they’re out here influencing African politics like they’re running a high-stakes reality show. You’ve got The Fellowship Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom, and The Heritage Foundation throwing money around like it’s Black Friday. But, if you’re thinking all this cash is marked “don’t touch LGBTQ,” think again. These groups claim they’re spending on “religious minority” issues, as if that has no connection to what’s actually happening. Read more

DEEP DIVE

Speak our language!

You’re excited to watch this new show. Then you tune in, only to realise they’re speaking ancient Latin with zero subtitles – but this show is supposed to be about your future. That’s kinda how some people feel about the Ghanaian judiciary’s statements, according to UN’s Leonardo Simão. He gets it – the courts are like Ghana’s Avengers for democracy, especially when election season rolls around. But he’s wondering if we could maybe make it a little less cryptic?

The courts need to talk like they’re addressing the actual humans who live in Ghana. They’ve got the professionalism down, but somewhere between the wig and gavel, the message sometimes gets all tangled up in fancy terms. And when people can’t decode what’s going on, that leaves room for all kinds of wild interpretations, which is like giving rumor-mongers a mic.

Simão even dropped a big “yes” for the judiciary’s new promise to publish more info in a way everyone can get. Like, instead of just spilling the technical tea for legal pros, they’ll now explain things so Auntie Ama and her son Kofi can follow, too. ‘Cause if you’re breaking down rulings like it’s an English exam, no one’s passing that test except maybe law students. Read more

Father of the Year?

A dad asking his 7-year-old son to cut down a palm fruit with a machete. Sounds like a wild weekend activity, right? But this isn’t some cute family bonding gone wrong. Twifo Hemang’s Yaw Ansah allegedly took things to horror-movie levels, attacking his own son when he couldn’t complete the errand.

When young champ couldn’t handle the palm fruit slicing, Ansah allegedly lost it and, according to witnesses, tried to cut his son’s wrist clean off. Just imagine the neighborhood vibes when residents heard those screams; it wasn’t the usual kids-playing noise—it was serious. Neighbors rushed in to find the boy with a deep cut, whisking him off to the hospital. Now, the community is seriously done with Ansah’s antics and calling for some real intervention.

And it doesn’t stop here. Apparently, machetes and injuries are kind of this dad’s thing? Locals reported that this wasn’t his first act of violence. Ansah had previously chopped off part of his son’s finger. Yes, you read that right—actual finger-chopping. One resident even spilled that Ansah’s been out here threatening to sell his kids. Yep, he’s that guy.

So now, the big question: will the authorities actually step up? Because the community is tired, and the kids deserve better than living in a real-life horror flick. Ansah’s behind bars for now, but it’s up to the police to make sure he doesn’t walk back into town anytime soon. Read more

Shots fired!

Seikwa’s roads are in shambles, the schools could use more than a paint job, and the hospital? Bare-bones at best. But you’d never know it if you only listened to Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who’s quick to name-drop his Bono Region hometown whenever it’s convenient. Enter Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, aka Napo, the NPP’s Vice Presidential Candidate, who’s calling Asiedu Nketiah out in a big way. Napo’s claim? For all his talk, Asiedu Nketiah’s allegedly done a whole lot of nada to help his community actually grow.

At a packed rally in Seikwa, Napo painted a stark picture. “This is a town you hear about whenever Asiedu Nketiah needs to win some points,” he said, throwing major side-eye. But take a look around, he argued, and it’s clear Seikwa’s been left in the dust, even as Asiedu Nketiah’s political status has soared. It’s like going on about your roots while living in a mansion halfway across the world (in this case, reportedly in Canada). Napo’s saying enough is enough; it’s time Seikwa got some real love, not just lip service.

Napo didn’t stop there. He urged Seikwa residents to be wary of any last-minute NDC promises as the elections draw near. “They’ll come, they’ll smile, and they’ll promise the moon,” he warned. But he reminded locals that Asiedu Nketiah’s had plenty of time to make good on his words and hasn’t. He brought up the Zongo communities too, saying it’s time they got some real development and not just the “we’ll fix it” script.

In Napo’s view, the NPP is the only party with a real track record of delivering, citing former President Kufuor’s free maternal care program as proof. He’s urging Seikwa to give Dr. Bawumia and the NPP a shot, saying they’re the ones who can lead the town—and the country—into a better, more prosperous era. Read more

NEWS SOURCES

Today’s stories are curated from: