MILITARY ACADEMY SHUTS DOORS ON SHS GRADUATES…to pave way for degree & diploma holders

The Commander of the Ghana Military Academy (GMA), Brig. Gen. Obed Boamah Akwa, has told The Chronicle at the launch of GMA@50 in Accra last Tuesday that Senior High School graduates may not be enrolled at the academy from next academic year, if the policy review they have come out with is approved.

According to him, they were taking advantage of the high quality manpower produced by the country's finest tertiary institutions, “rather than go through the process of training secondary school leavers to become graduates.”

With the tertiary graduates, he maintained that the manpower had been created already, and “so our job is to tap into it, get the best, and train them to become officers.”

Brig. Gen. Akwa advised all Senior High School leavers, with such intentions of enlisting into the academy, to undertake degree or diploma courses in the tertiary institutions.

At a press briefing to launch the GMA@50 celebration earlier, the President of the Planning Committee, Brig. Gen. Jo-Sylvester Nkrumah, said the GMA was set up in April 1960 after years of reliance on foreign military academies to commission potential Ghanaian officers for the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

The celebration, which spans from April 1 to September 5 this year, is on theme; “Beyond 50 years of Excellence: Turning out Elite Leaders for National and International and Peace and Security.”

The institute, he continued, grew out of the Regular Officers Special Training School (ROSTS), which was established at the Military Academy and Training School in 1953.

Since its establishment, the academy has produced over 3,000 Ghanaian officers, serving in various capacities in the GAF.

It has also trained cadets from some sister African countries, notably Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Benin and the Gambia.

In a related development, the Italian government is undertaking an Electronic Research and Library project at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), to the tune of GH¢1,418,000. Sixty percent of the total construction cost has been paid.