Member of Parliament for Assin South Rev John Ntim Fordjour has described the removal of the Chief of Defence Staff and all Service Chiefs in the Ghana Armed Forces as “egoistic premature.”
President of the Republic and Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces John Dramani Mahama has changed the command of the Ghana Armed Forces. The President has appointed the following as Acting Service Chiefs for the Ghana Armed Forces, pending consultation with the Council of State:
Acting Chief of The Defence Staff – Brig. Gen. William Agyapong,
Acting Chief of Army Staff – Brig. Gen. Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu,
Acting Chief of Naval Staff – Cdre. Godwin Livinus Blessing,
Acting Chief of Air Staff – Air Cdre. Eric Agyen-Frempong, and
Acting Chief of Staff – Brig. Gen. Glover Ashong Annan
The appointments take effect from 24th March 2025.
“The President this afternoon met with the outgoing Service Chiefs – led by the Chief of the Defence Staff General Thomas Oppong-Peprah, at the Flagstaff House.
“Mr Mahama thanked them for their dedicated service to the nation and assured them of his willingness to rely on their varied experiences and depth of knowledge to reset Ghana,” the Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah wrote on his Facebook page.
But in reaction to this, Rev Ntim Fordjuor said on his his X page that “President Mahama has today dismissed Chief of Defence Staff and all Service Chiefs in Ghana Armed Forces and all 12 most senior military officers of the rank of Major-General equivalent and above (i.e all 2-star Generals, 3-star Generals and 4 star General). Most of these Generals by rank and age, have six (6) more years to serve in the military before their retirement.
“What this implies on the public purse is that gratuities will have to be paid running into millions of cedis due to the egoistic premature dismissals of senior ranked generals, replacing them with lower ranked Brigadier Generals and equivalent (1-star Generals) at the command of Ghana Armed Forces.”
He added “Just when Ghana expanded its military might; upgrading key corps such as armour, artillery, signals and 48 Engineers to Brigade status thereby attaining 4-star General status for the Chief of Defence of Staff, Mahama has reset the top hierarchy back to 1-star General as Chief of Defence Staff. This reset is indeed backward, costly and farfetched.”
