When Silence Becomes Deadlier Than Bullets-Why The Ghana Armed Forces Need Insurance, Transparency And Reform

In recent weeks, we have mourned the tragic loss of military personnel whose sacrifices will forever be etched in our national memory. Posthumous promotions have been conferred—commendable, yes—but let us not be deceived. These are wreaths laid on graves: beautiful but powerless to restore breath. If we truly honour our soldiers, their protection in life must be as assured as their decoration in death.

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF)—including the Army, Navy, and Air Force—are the shield of the Republic. But what happens when the shield itself is cracked? Beneath the glitter of parades lies a troubling reality: censorship, bureaucracy, and enforced silence weigh heavier on our men and women in uniform than their rifles and boots. Soldiers are trained to endure, but endurance without reform is not discipline—it is cruelty.

Consider the state of flight safety. Allegations of aircraft operating with multiple unresolved faults, degraded radios, or long-standing landing-gear issues paint a grim picture of a culture where speaking up can be mistaken for insubordination. In such an environment, every mission becomes a gamble, every take-off a prayer. (These operational claims demand formal inquiry; the structural problem—fear of reporting—demands reform.)

Defence spending: mind the gap—and fix the mix

Ghana’s 2025 Budget allocates GH¢6.37 billion to the Ministry of Defence (all sources), up from GH¢3.43 billion in the 2024 Budget Estimates—evidence that fiscal space is improving and that prioritisation is possible. Projections rise further through 2028. The question is whether enough of this goes to maintenance, airworthiness, and personnel welfare, not just ceremonies and overheads.

Even with that rise, Ghana’s military burden (spending as % of GDP) remains modest by global standards: ~0.39–0.45% of GDP in 2023, versus a global burden near 2.3%. And for context, NATO’s benchmark is “at least 2%” of GDP, not 5%. We are not arguing to chase foreign benchmarks; we are arguing to spend smartly—on safety systems, maintenance, and the humans inside the uniforms.

Insurance: a shield for the living, not just the fallen

Irony deepens when we realise that much of the GAF fleet—land, sea, and air—reportedly lacks comprehensive insurance. Meanwhile, Ghanaian law already treats insurance as a public-interest tool across civilian life:

Insurance Act, 2021 (Act 1061) empowers the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and expands compulsory insurance classes (e.g., motor third-party, commercial-building fire, public liability, professional indemnity, and certain marine covers). If businesses and building owners must insure against risks to the public, how much more the military that moves people and machines at scale?

Civil Aviation Act, 2024 (Act 1120) requires valid insurance and airworthiness documents to be carried on aircraft—civil standards that underscore what “normal” looks like in aviation risk management. (Military operations can be exempt for sovereignty reasons, but the norm still stands: aviation risks are insurable and should be managed transparently.)

Whistleblower Act, 2006 (Act 720) protects disclosures made in the public interest. A safety culture where engineers and pilots can report faults—without career suicide—aligns with Ghanaian law, not against it.

If Ghana requires compulsory insurance for ordinary risks, why should extraordinary risks borne by soldiers be left to bereaved families? A mandatory life and disability insurance programme for all GAF personnel should be a baseline, not a debate.

What our neighbours are already doing

We are not inventing the wheel; we are catching up.

Nigeria: Under Section 4(5) of the Pension Reform Act, 2014, employers—including public-sector entities—must maintain a Group Life Insurance policy for each employee, with a minimum sum assured of three times annual total emolument. This statutory floor covers service members as employees of the state.

Kenya: The Defence Forces Medical Insurance Scheme (DEFMIS) provides post-retirement medical cover to KDF members and dependants through structured contributions (~3.1% over 20 years). While its focus is medical and post-service, it shows that military-specific insurance schemes are feasible in our region.

Rwanda: The Military Medical Insurance (MMI) is a dedicated medical scheme for RDF personnel and families—an institutionalised way to de-risk health shocks for the force.

South Africa: The SANDF Group Life benefits for service members illustrate another African model where death/disability covers are integrated into conditions of service.

The takeaway is simple: African militaries are already running dedicated insurance/benefits schemes. Ghana can adapt—not copy—what works.

Market options exist in Ghana—use them

Ghana has mature insurers able to structure Group Life and Personal Accident covers tailored to military risk:

SIC Life (state-linked life insurer) runs large group-life portfolios (e.g., GES Group Life) and can price scaled benefits for uniformed personnel. SIC Insurance (non-life) also writes aviation and marine classes relevant to platforms and logistics.

Enterprise Life offers diversified group and family-protection products; it routinely partners with sector bodies to build bespoke schemes (e.g., 2025 group life for pharmacy staff).

StarLife Assurance provides an Employee Security Plan (Group Life) and group welfare solutions—templates that can be adapted to the GAF.

The NIC lists licensed life insurers and is actively enforcing compulsory covers in the public interest—an institutional partner for any GAF-wide insurance mandate.

Bottom line: the technical capacity and regulatory framework exist today to build a sustainable, audited, soldier-first insurance programme.

Promotions, welfare and the moral economy of service

Promotion pathways in the GAF—from recruit through Lance Corporal, Warrant Officer and beyond—often span many years. When transparent criteria are muddied by bureaucracy, morale sinks. What dignity remains when a soldier dies as a Private, only to be decorated as Corporal in his coffin? Aristotle reminded us: “The end of the state is the good life.” A state that endangers its defenders betrays its essence.

Silence is not discipline—it’s risk

Aviation and naval operations rest on checklists, fault logs, and open reporting. Silencing maintenance concerns multiplies risk. Ghanaian law already protects good-faith disclosures (Whistleblower Act). The GAF should codify safety-of-flight and safety-of-navigation reporting channels that shield whistleblowers, with independent oversight for serious hazards.

Five practical reforms Ghana can pass now

1. Mandate Group Life & Disability for all GAF personnel. Peg minimum benefits (e.g., 3× annual salary for death, scaled disability tables), with premiums co-funded by MoD and personnel welfare funds; benchmark Nigeria’s statutory floor.

2. Fully insure platforms and missions. For aircraft, ships and operational vehicles, adopt civil-aviation-grade practice on hull, liability, crew, and third-party covers where feasible; when sovereign exemptions apply, create an MoF-backed self-insurance fund with actuarial audits. Reference Act 1120 standards for documentation.

3. Earmark maintenance & safety in the defence vote. Within the GH¢6.37 bn MoD allocation, ring-fence a transparent Maintenance & Safety Envelope with quarterly public performance dashboards (aircraft availability, mean-time-between-failure, spares lead-times).

4. Protect fault-reporting in the chain of command. Issue a Defence Council directive aligning unit SOPs with Act 720 protections, ensuring no adverse postings, appraisals or promotions for safety disclosures.

5. Procure through the local market—at scale, with oversight. Run a competitive RFP among NIC-licensed life/non-life insurers to structure a single pooled scheme (life, disability, PA, platform covers), supervised by NIC and the Auditor-General, with annual public summaries.

Conclusion: value lives, not just hardware

We must end the hypocrisy of glorifying the fallen while ignoring the living. Replace bureaucracy with efficiency, censorship with constructive communication, and neglect with structured care. Our military is not just about war; it is about survival, life, and the dignity of service.

The way forward is clear: move from posthumous recognition to living recognition. Insure the lives of our personnel. Insure the tools of their trade. Insure the future of their families. For the true strength of Ghana’s Armed Forces is not measure

d by the size of its arsenal, but by the value it places on every single soldier’s life.

By:

Zakari GUA JNR a.k.a Scorpio 🦂

Security And Justice ⚖️ Advocate

   Comments0