Ghanaian students show off talents in Chinese songs

Ghanaian students show off talents in Chinese songs

The maiden Chinese song contest for non-native speakers took place at Ghana’s Port City of Tema.

The competition, which was organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana, attracted the interest of citizens of both countries.

 

Twelve groups of singers who were selected following a vigorous preliminary race took part in the contest. After two rounds of powerful contest, Margaret Clement, who is a student of the Confucius Institute, was adjudged the overall winner of the competition, after leaving the judges and the audience spellbound with her powerful rendition of traditional Chinese songs.

She impressed the five-member panel of judges with her lively show on the afternoon held at the Niuniu Club in Tema.

“I really worked hard for it,” an excited Clement told Xinhua.

“What is special about this competition is that I competed with people who are majoring in the Chinese language. I’m not majoring in Chinese but still I made it. That is one of the many things that made the whole thing beautiful,” she said.

Clement believes the event would motivate her to learn new Chinese words, master the language and improve her confidence when speaking the language to people.

Sandra Naa Ayerley Quaye, a student of the University of Ghana, who emerged joint second runner-up, encouraged Ghanaians to take up interest in learning the Chinese language and culture.

She said learning and singing Chinese songs has helped her to learn more words faster and improve on her academic performance.

“Every time you sing a song, you learn a new word. I once sang a song and I went to the class and the teacher used the word and I was like oh I know it. I was the only one who was able to say it and it was a motivation for me,” she told Xinhua.

 

The 2017 Chinese song contest was on the theme: “Chinese Dream Inspired by the Silk Road.”

The theme aims to provide a platform for the students learning Chinese to display their good command of the language, their deep love for Chinese songs, and their recognized talents in singing.

Mei Meilian, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana, was highly impressed by the contestants’ performances displayed during the competition.

“They did wonderfully. I’m very proud of them,” she told Xinhua.

Each of the winners received certificates and other prizes from the sponsors of the event.

A Teacher has been arrested for defiling a teenage pupil

The accused person, Nathaniel Kwarteng, pleaded not guilty to the offense and would re-appear before the same court on Wednesday November 1.

A 19 year-old pupil teacher of Sureso Star Preparatory school in the Wassa Amenfi West district, has been remanded into prison custody by the Tarkwa circuit court for allegedly defiling a fifteen year-old girl.

The accused person, Nathaniel Kwarteng, pleaded not guilty to the offense and would re-appear before the same court on Wednesday November 1.

Police, Chief Inspector Faustina Celestina Anaman, told the court presided by Mr Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew that the victim is a pupil at Sureso Star preparatory school and lived with her father at Batmaso, a village near Asankrangwa in the same area with the accused.

She said on October 9 this year,  Kwarteng forced the victim into his room and had sexual intercourse with her, after which he detained her there till the next day.

Inspector Anaman said the victim’s father who had been searching for her daughter all night had a tip-off that the accused person had “camped” her in his room.

According to the Prosecution, the victim’s father informed his neighbours and they escorted him to Kwarteng’s house to find out the truth.

She said when they arrived and forced the door opened they found the accused together with the victim and she narrated her ordeal to her parents.

Inspector Anaman said on October 10 the victim’s father lodged a formal complaint to the police at Asankrangwa and Kwarteng was arrested.

 

Mahama rips Akufo-Addo over ‘spiralling’ political vigilantism

In a Facebook post Sunday evening, the ex-president noted that political vigilantism was “spiraling out of control.”

Former President John Mahama has denounced his successor, President Nana Akufo-Addo, over the growing culture of political vigilantism in the country.

The rebuke comes after multiple media reports say there have been 19 separate incidents of violence caused by New Patriotic Party activists and vigilante groups associated with the party.

In a Facebook post, the ex-president noted that political vigilantism was “spiralling out of control.”

According to him, the “government doesn’t appear to be able to deal with the situation.”

He said it was a “tragedy” that “most of our moral society have become passive spectators.”

 

Last week, activists of the NPP chased out the District Chief Executive of Karaga in the Northern Region.

And in Sissala in the Upper West Region, a group of irate youth who say they are NPP members stormed the District Assembly to demand the removal of the District Chief Executive (DCE).

Also, on Friday, a group calling itself Party Royals disrupted an assembly election to elect a presiding member in the Adeiso District Assembly.

They also assaulted the assembly members for failing to vote for the party’s preferred candidate in the election.Source:Pocket News