Saturday, September 1, 2012 was, indeed, the day! History was inevitably made as the Council of Brong Ahafo Associations of North America (COBAANA) met in Columbus, Ohio (USA). It was the third gathering after Toronto, Canada (May 2010) and Chicago, IL (May 2011) Conventions. The Columbus Convention was graced with the presence of representatives of the Mayor of Columbus, Mr. Michael Coleman, Ohio State University, Ghanaian Associations in the metro-Columbus area, Nananom and other recognized opinion leaders in Columbus. The gargantuan preparations made towards the conference, spearheaded by Nana Odeneho Osei Kwabena of Columbus, yielded great fruits. The Convention was praised to be a success.

COBAANA consists of all the local Brong Ahafo Associations in several cities in the USA and Canada. It was formed to coordinate, inter alia, the socio-economic efforts and the general progress of member associations and aid to Ghana, particularly the Brong Ahafo Region.

Over the last two years, COBAANA has donated bed sheets and various medical instruments to the Sunyani Regional Hospital in Ghana. At the Columbus Convention, another fundraising drive was successfully launched to provide additional assistance to the hospital. Nana Seinti Nyame, King of the Ghanaian Community in Cincinnati, Ohio chaired the function. He made a passionate appeal to Ghanaians in the Diaspora to be always mindful of the basic needs of our people in Ghana which we tend to take for granted in the USA, Canada, and other western countries. This point was reiterated so eloquently by the Guest Speaker, Dr. Alexander Yaw Adusei, a legal practitioner and an educationist in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to the dinner, fundraising and dance in the evening, COBAANA had a general meeting in the morning at which it resolved, among other things, to continue supporting the Sunyani General Hospital, encourage foreign investors and businesses in the Brong Ahafo Region, and reach out to other Brong Ahafo citizens resident outside Ghana.

The outgoing COBAANA Chairman, Rev. Kwasi Amponsa-Yeboah of Chicago, swore in the new executives for a two-year term. He was full of praise for the previous executive and urged the new to work equally well. Rev. Amponsa-Yeboah prayed for the expansion of COBAANA and hoped to see it “strengthen its ability to assist in a broad range of areas of concern to us.” Four new local chapters petitioned to join COBAANA. The new COBAANA Executives are: Alex Ankomah of Toronto, ON (Chairman), Daniel Kofi Asante of Columbus, OH (Vice-Chairman), Paul Gyau of Silver Spring, MD (General Secretary), Nana Padmore Gyau of Worcester, MA (Assistant Secretary), Francis Apraku of Brampton, ON (Treasurer), and Mina Annan of Aurora, CO (Publicity Officer). Dr. Anthony Nkrumah-Brobbey of New York was crowned COBAANA King and Nana-Yere Gifty Adu Gyamfi of Chicago as Queen.