Kan Dapaah's Exit Strategy

… Gives Birth To New-Found Voice Of Armed Forces

But Is It A Matter Of Personal Survival? Or An Iron Fist Aimed At Addo Kufuor?

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Maham, recently threw his own kind of spanner in the works of Dr. Addo Kufuor, when he (Vice President) lamented over the unprecedented wave of resignations and outright desertions from the Military and intimated that efforts that were being made to curb the situation were “short-term and cosmetic.”

Of course, supporters of, and aides to, Dr. Addo Kufuor, who for the last six-seven years had Ministerial responsibility for the Military, did not take kindly to the not-too-veiled attack on their preferred candidate and they showed their displeasure by asking the Vice President to point to his own personal achievement in government for the six-seven years that he has been the Vice President of the Republic.

Supporters of Dr. Addo Kufuor, justifiably, have every reason to see the Vice President’s comments as a veiled attack on their candidate, especially as the whole of their campaign message, up to this point in time, has hinged on the successes that they claim that Dr. Addo Kufuor has chalked at the Defence Ministry.

In a quick ‘turning-defence-into-attack’ manoeuvre, the Addo Kufuor faction came out with a media blitz, reiterating their claim that their candidate performed unrivalled wonders at the Defence Ministry and that the men and women in uniform were so happy with his performance that they awarded him a citation that showed just how unhappy the soldiers were at his departure from the Ministry.

But in a surprise move that is clearly calculated to destroy the claims being made by Dr. Addo Kufuor and his supporters, the hitherto reticent Military hierarchy has rediscovered its pubic voice and officers of the High Command are now confirming that our men and women in uniform are leaving the Armed Forces in droves.

The Ghanaian Lens cannot help but comment on happenings in the Ghana Armed Forces for the simple reason that for a while, this paper has been the only newspaper that has, as it were, walked on hot coal to bring out happenings in the Ghana Armed Forces.

Indeed, when this paper was the only paper that put it out that the Ghana Armed Forces was haemorrhaging badly to the extent that a very senior officer in the Intelligence Unit, Colonel Brakatuo, had gone AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave), the Ghana Armed Forces, through one Brigadier Bob Winful, the Chief of Staff at the General Headquarters of the Ghana Army, held a press conference to attempt to debunk what this paper had put out.

Time has gone full circle, and The Ghanaian Lens has it on authority that the likes of Chief of Army Staff, General Samuel Odotei, and Head of the Directorate of Public Relations, Colonel Nibo, are now spilling the beans as regards the ills that have taken place in the Ghana Armed Forces since January 07, 2001.

The question is why are the officers speaking now, when previously they were at pains to paint a totally different picture?

The Ghanaian Lens, intrigued by the apparent sudden rediscovery of the public voices of the Military hierarchy, has been doing some checks, and our findings make very interesting reading.

The Ghanaian Lens has learnt that the new Defence Minister, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaah, has given the Military High Command the ‘go-ahead’ to spill the beans about the true state of affairs pertaining in the Military.

The Ghanaian Lens has learnt that Kan Dapaah, after taking over the Defence Ministry, has discovered many things that he feels really uncomfortable with, and apparently unwilling to carry the cross of his predecessor, he has asked his commanders to speak to the public for Ghanaians to know the true state of the Armed Forces before he (Kan Dapaah) took over as the sector Minister hence the things we are hearing from the Ghana Armed Forces.

The Ghana Armed Forces has never haemorrhaged the way it has in the past six years or so, and The Ghanaian Lens has it on authority that in far away New York, at the Headquarters of the United Nations, lots of application letters for jobs from officers of the Ghana Armed Forces are sitting on desks. What it means is that, there are lots of men in uniform who have their hearts and minds out of the army and are just waiting for an opportunity to drop their uniforms and walk away from the army.

The morale of the officers and men of the Ghana Armed Forces has never been at its lowest ebb since the days proceeding the June 4th, 1979, uprising, and Kan Dapaah is apparently unable to assume Ministerial control over a very discontented Military that has been presented to the world as highly satisfied.

By asking the commanders to let their voice be heard on the true state of affairs, Kan Dapaah is ‘insuring’ himself against any blame after the NPP leaves power and the true state of affairs in the military becomes known. In simple terms, the man does not want to be the one carrying the can. For that is what he would be doing if he fails to let the prevailing conditions known now, especially as he has, effectively, less than a year and a half to try and turn the situation around.

Thus, GHanaians are now hearing from the lips of Colonel Nibo, how officers and OR’s (Other Ranks) are leaving in droves with excuses ranging from leaving to take over “cocoa farms of their fathers” and “going to attend to family matters”.

Of course, there are those who are deserting (leaving without official permission).

According to Col Nibo, at the officer level, the desertion is sweeping through the ranks of Lieutenant through to Brigadier.

The question is; why would a young lieutenant who would have graduated from the Military Academy not too long ago also want to desert if the reasons for deserting are not so compelling?

Speaking to the issue, Col Nibo recently said on Citi FM that the issues that are killing the morale of the officers and men, include, low remuneration, lack of logistics, lack of transparent opportunities for training courses abroad, and lack of accommodation.

What the colonel did not add for good reason, is the fact that TRIBALISM and ETHNICITY have reared their ugly heads in the Ghana Army where if one does not carry particular surnames or hail from particular sections of country, there is very limited opportunities.

“This government is deliberately depopulating the army of certain tribes and populating it in a particular direction,” said one senior officer who is on his way out.

When asked to comment further on the “depopulating” and “populating” matter the officer said “the idea is to frustrate some of us from other parts of the country out of the army so that only a particular tribe or ethnic group would be in total control so that a pliable army would sit idly by and watch the country being run aground”.

“My sister, the NPP has destroyed the Ghana Armed Forces and it would take a very long time to rebuild it,” the officer added.

“I tell you, if there should be an uprising today, it would be soldiers against soldiers because there is so much division and hatred amongst us that we would leave you the civilians alone and deal with ourselves,” was how the officer concluded.

Obviously, Kan Dapaah has realized the damage that has been done to the Ghana Armed Forces and the danger that it portends for the nation and so has given the go-ahead to his commanders to let their voices be heard.

Kan Dapaah is certainly doing the right thing with the Ghana Armed Forces but he should not forget that as the Interior Minister, he never supplied the Ghana Prisons Service with uniforms nor boots with Prisons Officers having to buy uniforms and boots from “fos-line”.