Beyond the Uniform: Why Every Young Ghanaian Woman Needs the Uncompromising Spirit of ‘Grandma Soja’ as a Mentor

The Audacity to Claim Your Space
In a world that constantly tells young African women to wait their turn, speak softly, and accept the hand they are dealt, true mentorship is found in those who refused to sit down. For decades, institutional structures subtly dictated where a Ghanaian woman could go, how much she could earn, and how far she could rise. But history is not built by passive bystanders; it is carved out by those with the audacity to push back against systemic biases.

When looking for anchors of inspiration, we do not need to look across the oceans. One of Ghana’s greatest historical giants is sitting right within our midst, proving that true courage is a quiet, unyielding refusal to compromise on your worth. To every young Ghanaian woman standing at the crossroads of her career, education, or personal life, this is a call to study, adopt, and embody the fierce legacy of Lieutenant Colonel Georgina Akua Mensah (rtd), affectionately known across generations as Grandma Soja. This is the blueprint of how one woman's refusal to back down permanently altered the course of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

Grandma Soja: The Lizard Who Could Climb and the Soldier Who Wouldn't Stand Down

To understand the sheer grit of Lt. Col. Georgina Mensah (rtd), one must look back to her formative days in the academy. Enlisting as part of a professional regular intake, she stood out immediately: she was the only woman among a cohort of 50 professionals, competing directly alongside male lawyers, accountants, and administrators.

Even after undergoing major, invasive ulcer surgery at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital just three months before her grueling training began, her physical dominance was undeniable. Peers and instructors from her era fondly remember her uncanny agility, joking that she "could climb physical obstacles like a lizard and clear defensive walls with absolute ease."

The Showdown at Flagstaff House

Her defining historical test came when she was formally nominated for an international peacekeeping mission, only to discover that her name had been abruptly and unfairly wiped from the final manifest. Her hard-earned slot had been quietly handed over to a male officer—coincidentally, a soldier she had previously taught.

Recognizing that a quiet submission would set a dangerous precedent for every female soldier coming after her, she bypassed standard bureaucratic hesitation. She marched directly to Flagstaff House to confront General Arnold Quainoo, the General Officer Commanding. Shunted from office to office, she held her ground, fiercely argued her case, and forced the military high command to restore her name to the deployment roster.

By doing so, she broke an unwritten rule that had kept female soldiers restricted to local support duties, making history as the very first Ghanaian woman to serve on a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

The Uncompromising Blueprint: Crucial Facts for the Next Generation

To use Grandma Soja as a practical mentor, young women must study the specific battlegrounds where she claimed her victories:

Shattering the 90% Pay Gap (1975): Freshly commissioned as a young lieutenant in 1975, Georgina did the unthinkable. During an official military town hall, she boldly looked Head of State President Ignatius Kutu Acheampong in the eye and demanded to know why female officers earned only 90% of the salaries their male counterparts received for the same labor. Her boldness directly challenged the institutionalized wage gap at the highest executive level.
Storming Army HQ for Fair Assessment: Her grit was tested again later in her career when she was bypassed for the Senior Staff College after serving as a standby nominee. Rather than swallowing the disappointment quietly, she stormed the Army Headquarters to demand an explicit, transparent review of her career progression.
A Standard That Never Fades: Today, at over 80 years old, her fierce discipline remains completely intact. Family members often share lighthearted stories demonstrating that her standards never wavered: “If you are not ready for church on time on a Sunday morning, Grandma Soja will speed off in her car and leave you trailing behind.” Yet, she balances this rigid standard with a vibrant spirit, famously winding down a strict Sunday with a well-deserved bowl of fufu and cold beer.

Life Lessons: Why Young Women Must Choose Her as a Mentor

Preparation Erases Disadvantage: She never viewed being the only woman in a room of 50 men as a limitation. She neutralized structural biases by simply being better prepared, physically fitter, and more tactically competent than everyone around her.
Never Leave Your Fate to Quiet Rooms: When doors were shut against her, she did not wait at home hoping things would change. Whether confronting a military general or a Head of State, she understood that your voice is your greatest weapon.
Excellence Beyond Retirement: After retiring from active military service in 2002, she transitioned seamlessly into civilian corporate leadership, serving as a highly respected Training Manager at the Embassy of the United States in Accra, proving that leadership capability does not expire with a uniform.

Institutional Recommendations & Suggestions for Public Policy

To ensure that Grandma Soja’s legacy transcends temporary social media trends and directly impacts national development, we propose the following actions:

National Curricula Reform: The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) must systematically update primary and junior high school history textbooks. The specific stories of female military pioneers like Lt. Col. Georgina Mensah (rtd) and the late Major General Constance Edjeani-Afenu must be featured prominently alongside mainstream political history.
Establish GAF Mentorship Hubs: In alignment with global gender inclusion frameworks like the UN Elsie Initiative, the Ghana Armed Forces should launch an annual “Georgina Mensah Leadership Lecture & Security Sector Mentorship Clinic” targeting female students in tertiary and senior high schools.
Digital Archiving of National Icons: Media outlets and academic institutions must actively fund historical archiving projects—similar to journalist Kafui Dey’s vital historical interview feature—to ensure Ghana's foundational female stories are permanently preserved in high-definition digital spaces.

A Call to the Ghanaian Daughter

The opportunities modern Ghanaian women enjoy today in corporate spaces, academia, and governance were bought through the uncompromising stubbornness of the women of yesterday. True mentorship is not about finding an idol who makes your path look easy; it is about studying the strategy of a soldier who looked at a fortress of discrimination and decided to break the gates open.

Let us carry Grandma Soja's lessons out of the military barracks and into our boardrooms, our university lecture halls, and our local communities:

Stop waiting for permission to speak out when you detect institutional inequality.
Refuse to allow your hard work to be erased from the roster of achievement.
Build an internal standard of discipline that remains completely unshaken, whether you are 23 or 83 years old.

To the young women of Ghana: the next time you feel small, underestimated, or left behind, remember the name Georgina Akua Mensah. Stand up straight, fix your posture, step out with absolute confidence, and claim what is rightfully yours. The door has already been cracked open—it is your job to march completely through it.

✍️ Submitted by:
Retired Senior Citizen
For and on behalf of all Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana 🇬🇭

Teshie-Nungua
[email protected]