Category: Daily Guide Network

Musician, Fameye, has revealed that rapper, Medikal, inspired him to pursue music instead of university education after they both missed their Mathematics examination.

Speaking in an interview with the Headless YouTuber, Fameye recalled meeting Medikal on the day of the examination and asking why he was not going to write the paper.

He said Medikal told him he had a performance with Criss Waddle on Music Music.

Fameye said he later entered the examination hall but left without writing the paper after becoming discouraged by the unwillingness of other students to help him.

‘I made up an excuse that I wanted to visit the washroom and I ran away,’ he said.

He explained that missing the paper made him believe his chances of gaining university admission were slim, prompting him to focus on music.

Fameye, who initially wanted to become a rapper, said a senior in school later advised him to pursue singing because his voice was better suited to it.

He said Medikal’s decision to pursue music encouraged him to believe he could also succeed without a university education.

‘If Medikal could do it, then I could also do it,’ he said.

Fameye added that Medikal later encouraged him to remain patient and work hard when he contacted him on Facebook.

He said the rapper’s words inspired him to view other musicians’ success as motivation rather than a reason for envy.

Fameye stressed that he was not blaming Medikal for his decision but acknowledged the rapper’s influence on his career path.

World Vision Ghana, in partnership with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), has organised the Regional Hand Hygiene and WASH Summit 2026 in Tamale to commemorate Global Handwashing Day.

Held under the theme ‘Be a Handwashing Hero: Awareness to Action,’ the summit sought to move beyond awareness creation. It brought together policymakers, development partners, financiers, private-sector leaders, health professionals, civil society organisations, academics and youth representatives to explore practical actions to improve hygiene services, strengthen WASH systems and accelerate investment in sustainable hand hygiene infrastructure.

Mr. Rexford Bugre Yamdong, Northern Operations Manager at World Vision Ghana, said Global Handwashing Day was a reminder that handwashing with soap saves lives. However, he said, many people-particularly those in underserved communities, schools and healthcare facilities-still lack access to the basic infrastructure needed to practise proper hand hygiene.

He encouraged stakeholders to focus on leadership, policy and accountability; sustainable financing and investment; and climate resilience and innovation.

‘World Vision Ghana recognises that no single institution can address these challenges alone. Our progress depends on the strength of our partnerships with government, CWSA, development partners, fellow humanitarian organisations, the private sector, academia, civil society and the communities we serve.

‘This summit is therefore more than a commemorative event. It is a platform for collaboration, collective responsibility and action. I encourage each institution represented here to consider not only what they have learnt, but also what they can contribute to improving access to hand hygiene facilities in our schools, healthcare facilities and underserved communities,’ he stated.

Mr. Yamdong noted that handwashing stations had been distributed to selected schools and healthcare facilities as part of this year’s commemoration to improve access to basic hygiene services.

‘However, infrastructure alone is not sufficient. We must also ensure that water and soap remain available, facilities are properly maintained, and hygiene promotion continues, so that the intended benefits are sustained,’ he added.

Mr. Bouri Yahaya of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council’s Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit presented an overview of the region’s WASH situation. He reported that the open defecation rate was 55.4 per cent, basic sanitation coverage was 49.9 per cent, and 14.8 per cent of households practised basic handwashing with soap.

He also said 64.4 per cent of the population had access to basic drinking water, while 18.7 per cent had access to safely managed drinking water.

Mr. Yahaya called for the provision of WASH facilities and water in schools, as well as dedicated funding for school WASH activities.

‘Let us remember that handwashing with soap and clean water is a simple but powerful way to prevent diseases and protect our families and communities. Clean hands save lives, and prevention is better than cure,’ he said.

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale

The Volta North Regional Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old man, identified as Robert Akator, in connection with the alleged murder of a two-year-old boy at Wli-Afegame, a community near Hohoe in the Volta Region.

The suspect was arrested on September 15, 2026, following intelligence received by the police regarding the alleged incident.

According to the police statement signed by Inspector Felix Kwao, Public Relations Officer of the Volta North Regional Police Command, officers proceeded to the scene upon receipt of the information, where they discovered the lifeless body of the two-year-old boy.

The deceased’s body has since been deposited at the morgue for preservation and autopsy as investigators work to establish the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.

The suspect, Robert Akator, is currently in police custody and assisting with investigations into the incident. He is expected to be put before the court to face justice after investigations.

The Police Command has appealed to the public to remain calm and refrain from speculation while investigations continue. It also urged anyone with credible information that could assist investigators to come forward and share such information with the police.

Natural gas will remain important to Ghana’s energy security and industrial development during the transition. The immediate priority should be to use domestic gas resources efficiently while avoiding infrastructure and investment decisions that create unnecessary long term dependence on fossil fuels.

BRICS partnerships could support investment in gas processing, gas-to-power infrastructure, LNG related infrastructure and other systems that improve reliability and industrial competitiveness.

The policy challenge is to ensure that gas serves as a bridge to a more diversified energy system rather than becoming an obstacle to it.

Ghana as a Regional Energy Hub

Ultimately, the broader opportunity is to position Ghana as a regional energy hub.

Ghana has the potential to serve neighboring markets through petroleum products, natural gas, electricity and, increasingly, clean energy solutions. BRICS capital and technology could support the infrastructure required to achieve this ambition.

This is important because Ghana’s investment proposition becomes considerably stronger when viewed not only through the size of its domestic market, but through its ability to provide access to the wider West African market.

Policy Recommendations

Build a dedicated BRICS Energy Strategy.

Focus BRICS engagement on Ghana’s key capital and technology needs across power, gas, renewables, storage, petroleum logistics, EVs and alternative fuels.

Build an NDB ready project pipeline.

Move from project identification to bankable projects capable of reaching financial close. NDB approved approximately US$3.17 billion across 19 projects in 2025, highlighting the scale of capital available.

Use NDB to widen Ghana’s financing options.

NDB should complement the World Bank, AfDB, IFC and other partners, creating greater capital market optionality, competitive pricing and structuring flexibility.

Make local value creation part of the investment proposition.

Where commercially viable, BRICS backed investments should include skills development, local procurement, supplier development and technology transfer.

Use BRICS to accelerate energy diversification.

Pursue opportunities in renewables, storage, biofuels, EVs and other emerging technologies while maintaining strategic investment in oil and gas to support energy security.

Position Ghana as a West African energy hub.

Prioritise projects that can support regional power trading, petroleum logistics, gas infrastructure and energy exports.

Maintain a commercially driven, multi partner strategy.

BRICS should expand Ghana’s options, not replace existing Western and multilateral partners. The objective is more competition for Ghana’s projects and better financing terms.

Measure the return on BRICS engagement.

Track capital mobilized, projects reaching financial close, investment attracted, capacity added, jobs created, technology transferred and local procurement generated.

Conclusion

Viewed through the energy lens, Ghana’s BRICS strategy is ultimately a question of capital, optionality and leverage.

The financing case is clear. Ghana needs approximately US$4.4 billion of energy investment between 2025 and 2030, with US$2.6 billion expected from private sources. At the same time, the NDB approved US$3.17 billion across 19 projects in 2025 and ended the year with an active portfolio of more than US$35.6 billion.

That makes the NDB interesting, but the bigger prize is the ecosystem around it. BRICS can give Ghana access to additional pools of capital, technology, industrial partners and markets across power, gas, renewables, storage, electric mobility and alternative fuels.

The strategic point is not to replace Western capital with BRICS capital. That would simply replace one dependency with another. The smarter play is to widen the field, increase competition for Ghana’s projects and give the country more leverage over the price, structure, technology and terms of investment.

Ultimately, BRICS should be judged like any other investment proposition: what does Ghana get for it?

If it helps Ghana finance projects that would otherwise struggle to reach financial close, strengthen energy security, attract private capital, build domestic capability and establish Ghana as a competitive energy platform for West Africa, then BRICS becomes more than a geopolitical alignment.

It becomes a capital allocation strategy. And that is where its real value lies.

The Director of Communications at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Bernard Otabil, has urged journalists to uphold accuracy, balance and ethical standards in financial reporting to combat misinformation and protect public confidence.

Speaking at a three-day training workshop for journalists in Koforidua, he said misleading headlines about inflation, exchange rates and monetary policy could trigger panic, fuel speculation and negatively affect households and businesses.

‘The ethics of financial journalism matters because in finance, words move markets. A misleading headline on inflation, exchange rates or the policy rates can create panic, fuel speculation and hurt the very households and businesses we are trying to protect,’ he said.

Mr. Otabil said accurate reporting was essential to helping the public understand the Bank of Ghana’s policies and make informed economic decisions.

‘The public may not read our MPC reports, but they read your headlines and listen to your reports to make economic decisions. Accuracy, therefore, is not just a potential venture, it is an economic asset,’ he stated.

He said reporting on monetary policy and the central bank’s operations would be more effective if journalists understood the issues and communicated them accurately to the public.

Mr. Otabil said the workshop formed part of the central bank’s efforts to strengthen its engagement with the media and improve public understanding of monetary policy and its other operations.

He explained that integrating Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) statements with individual members’ submissions was part of a major reform introduced by the bank to promote transparency.

The Director of Communications also cautioned journalists against the growing threat of misinformation and disinformation, particularly content spread through digital platforms and artificial intelligence.

He said the rapid spread of market rumours and coordinated disinformation campaigns targeting currencies had become a global concern requiring responsible reporting and stronger verification practices.

‘This is a global phenomenon driven by technology and the speed of digital platforms, and it has undermined public trust everywhere. That is why credibility has become journalism’s most valuable asset,’ he added.

He urged journalists to prioritise verification, maintain balance and provide clarity in their reports, noting that adherence to ethical standards would help protect public savings and promote confidence in the financial system.

Mr. Otabil stated that the central bank would continue to strengthen its partnership with the media through expanded training programmes, editors’ forums and dedicated communication platforms.

The training would cover the ethics of financial reporting, the Bank of Ghana’s mandate and regulatory framework, and the complexities of central bank balance sheets.

Participants would also be taken through the bank’s domestic gold purchase programme, developments in the foreign exchange market, inflation dynamics, and ways of integrating MPC statements with individual members’ submissions.

Describing or even defending the recent vexatious Electoral Commission (EC) appointments as a means to effecting a political tilting of the elections management body points at the mindset of the President.

The recent appointments have ignited a national conversation about the integrity of the EC, and for good reasons.

The implication is that the President has appointed politically exposed persons with allegiance to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as Deputy Chairpersons, especially Emelia Affi Agbenyo, a dyed-in-the-wool NDC activist.

We were witnesses to the past elections and how some of them nearly pushed the country to the precipice but for providence.

If the President thinks the EC as currently constituted favours one political party, and for that matter the New Patriotic Party (NPP), hence his decision, then the future of democracy is shaky in this country, especially under the NDC.

As noted in a previous commentary, President John Mahama took exception to the appointment of Dr. Bossman Eric Asare as Deputy Chairperson of the EC when there was not an iota of evidence of the gentleman holding any NPP office or even associated with the party.

In the case of Emelia Affi Agbenyo, pictorial evidence and others exist about her association with the ruling NDC. This, the President has ignored, even as he was reminded about the concerns he raised when his predecessor made some appointments into the EC previously.

It is auspicious that even persons aligned to the NDC have expressed concern about the political incorrectness of the appointment of the lady.

Respectable civil society organisations have jumped into the fray, their arguments cogent and worthy of being adhered to by the President if only he would shed off his crocodile skin, listen and act upon the good counsels.

As a critical segment of democracy, in fact, the midwife of Presidents, and for that matter governments, the EC should be spared the acrimony and mistrust associated with the avoidable recent appointments.

If these have been made to take care of the interests of the NDC, then we are afraid the President’s call on them to be impartial in the performance of their duties was hypocritical.

Indeed, a suggestion that there were behind-the-scene engagements to remember the NDC cannot be dismissed. The good thing though is that in today’s Ghana, and in the face of new trends in elections management, underhand manoeuvres to favour one party against the other have been rendered obsolete.

Elections are won at the polling stations. Those who think they can use this irresponsible tilting of the composition of the EC to advance their electoral cause must rethink their thoughts. It simply won’t work.

Even before the verdict of Ghanaians is officially announced by the EC, the winner would have long been known.

Not listening to the good counsel of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) and others would result in the unfortunate changes of the management of the EC after every change of government. This is certainly not what we want in this country.

Unfortunately though, the unwanted precedents as occasioned by the obnoxious reset agenda is what we are about to witness in future. The judiciary, the EC and others are already suffering the reset agenda, the outcome too palpable to be ignored.

Gospel Musician, Diana Hamilton, has released her new single, ‘W’ate Manim,’ which dropped across all streaming platforms, alongside its accompanying music video on YouTube last Friday, October 16, 2026.

Written by Cofi Boham and produced by Herbert Crassie (Oshogbo), the song presents a testimony of gratitude, reflecting on God’s faithfulness and the journey that has shaped Diana’s life and ministry.

‘W’ate Manim,’ meaning ‘You Have Honoured Me,’ the song draws attention to the grace behind the artiste’s journey. Its message encourages listeners to pause, look back and recognise God’s hand in their own stories, while embracing the future with faith.

For the accompanying video, Diana once again partners with McWillies, continuing a creative relationship that includes work on some of her award-winning videos, such as ‘Adom’ and ‘Mo Ne Yo’. Their renewed collaboration brings a personal testimony to the screen through artistic storytelling.

The video offers a glimpse into Diana’s past while using imagery to look towards the future. Moving between remembrance and expectation, it connects where she has come from with the hope she carries for what lies ahead.

This retrospective approach gives audiences an opportunity to reflect on the person and the journey behind the music. The past becomes part of a continuing testimony, while the imagery of the future expresses anticipation for the next chapter.

For those who have followed Diana’s ministry over the years, ‘Wate Manim’ offers a moment of shared reflection and thanksgiving. For new listeners, it provides an invitation to connect with a message that reaches beyond one person’s experience: every life carries a story, and every testimony can become a source of encouragement to someone else.

As Diana looks back with gratitude and forward with expectation, ‘W’ate Manim’ invites audiences to do the same-to remember, give thanks and keep trusting God for the journey ahead.

Ghana star, Antoine Semenyo, has been ruled out for eight weeks after picking up a knee injury in Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Ipswich Town.

Head coach Enzo Maresca confirmed the setback after City’s 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, which extended their winning streak to seven games at the start of the 2026/27 season.

Semenyo came off the bench in the 77th minute, replacing Belgian-Ghanaian forward Jeremy Doku, but suffered the injury late in the game.

The win was overshadowed by injury concerns involving several key players including Semenyo, Erling Haaland, Nico O’Reilly, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic.

Providing an update ahead of City’s Champions League clash with AEK Athens, Maresca said Semenyo was the only one facing a lengthy spell out.

‘The rest are more or less okay. The only one that will be out for probably eight weeks is Antoine,’ Maresca said. ‘In the first moment we expected an even worse injury, so we were more worried. After yesterday’s scan we feel much better because it’s not so big like we expected.

‘It could be eight weeks. Now in this moment the most important thing for him is his recovery. When he is back around December it will be like a new player in terms of energy.’

Semenyo has made an impact for City this season, scoring two goals and providing three assists in nine appearances across all competitions.

Black Stars, Somalia AFCON Clash

Meanwhile, Ghana will be without Antoine Semenyo for their crucial 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Somalia in November after the Manchester City winger was ruled out for up to eight weeks with a knee injury.

Semenyo’s absence is particularly concerning for Ghana, who are bottom of the group without a point after losing their opening two matches against Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia.

The forward also missed those fixtures through an ankle injury, leaving the Black Stars without one of their key attacking options as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Côte d’Ivoire and a 4-2 loss to The Gambia.

Semenyo’s expected absence leaves Ghana with added pressure to secure maximum points against Somalia and revive their qualification hopes.

The technical team must now identify alternatives to fill the gap left by the winger as the Black Stars seek to recover from their disappointing start and keep their hopes of reaching the 2027 AFCON alive.

Musician, Pope Skinny, has called for unity among Ghanaian artistes, saying greater collaboration is needed to expand the industry’s reach in international markets.

Speaking in an interview with Nana Romeo, he questioned the global impact of Ghana’s biggest music stars, particularly in the United States.

‘The challenge facing Ghana’s music industry is the ‘Big Three’, but the truth is that their music is not even making waves in America,’ he said.

Pope Skinny argued that Ghanaian music was yet to gain significant recognition in the US, despite claims by some artistes about their achievements.

‘We don’t listen to Ghanaian music in America. I have never heard the so-called big names in America, unless maybe in Ghanaian nightclubs. We are not there yet. There is more work to do,’ he said.

He also criticised tensions between the industry’s established big three artistes, saying their fights are drawing attention away from emerging musicians, citing recent releases by Kweku Smoke, Fameye and Black Sherif when two big artistes were fighting online.

Pope Skinny said musicians must put aside their differences and work together to promote Ghanaian music beyond the country’s border.

The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, has urged beneficiaries of the government’s One Million Coders programme to progress beyond beginner-level training and acquire advanced digital skills to improve their employment prospects in the technology sector.

He said although the government was committed to providing free digital skills training, participants needed to develop higher levels of competence to meet employers’ requirements and secure meaningful jobs.

Mr. George made the call during a visit to a One Million Coders training centre in Ho as part of his tour of the Volta Region to interact with learners, assess the programme’s progress and inspect digital and telephony projects.

He described the initiative as a flagship programme of President John Dramani Mahama’s administration, designed to equip young people with relevant digital skills and create pathways to employment.

He said the training was structured into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels to enable participants to progressively acquire the competencies required in the technology industry.

‘Immediately you finish the beginner, we urge you to enrol and do the intermediate because most of the qualifications that are needed are people with advanced skills,’ he said.

The Minister stressed that participation in the programme was entirely free, but required learners to commit their time and dedication to completing the various stages.

He said the government was working with partners to create employment opportunities, including remote jobs, for qualified graduates.

He explained that the visit was also intended to obtain direct feedback from trainees on their experiences and challenges to help improve the programme’s implementation, beyond the weekly reports submitted by the implementation team.

The Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Dr. Francis Seglah, said measures were being taken to improve internet connectivity at the training centre.

He said that, under the World Bank-supported Ghana Digital Acceleration Project, GIFEC was implementing a last-mile connectivity programme to provide selected Community Information Centres with high-speed internet, including through dedicated fibre connections.

He added that the organisation would engage service providers to optimise existing connections while efforts continued to extend fibre infrastructure to more centres.

Mr. George also disclosed that the ministry was establishing partnerships with tertiary institutions, with particular emphasis on final-year students, to equip them with digital skills before graduation and improve their transition into employment.

He said the government was exploring Business Process Outsourcing opportunities to create additional jobs for trained young people, stressing that the programme should translate into tangible economic benefits for participants.

The minister urged beneficiaries to encourage their friends and family members to enrol in the initiative, describing it as part of President Mahama’s broader vision for digital transformation and job creation.

He also credited the President’s earlier tenure as Minister for Communications with helping to lay the foundations for Ghana’s telecommunications development, including the expansion of mobile communications.

From Daniel K Orlando, Ho