Protecting An Age-Long Integrity

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the state institution charged with the onerous task of defending the territorial integrity of the Republic of Ghana.

In pursuit of the foregone, even at the peril of the lives of officers, men and women in the regimented formations this institution should be shielded from the negative politicization of its affairs by self-seeking politicians and a few bad elements within the Services.

As Ghanaians, personnel must exercise their civic responsibilities such as voting for parties, whose programmes they are in love with when elections are due.

They should, however, not be seen to be in open flirtation with politicians in a manner which compromises the standards of the military.

The allegiance of the Ghana Armed Forces, as it is in other civilized jurisdictions, is to the state and not the hierarchy of political parties.

Unfortunately, the contamination of this near sacred standard in the military by bad politicians, especially during the tenure of the just terminated rein of former President John Mahama has prompted varied questions.

Fortunately, we can count on a majority of our military personnel who are ready to uphold the standards of the Ghana Armed Forces, the integrity built over the years from the days of the Gold Coast Constabulary to the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) to today's decorated Ghana Armed Forces.

Some of these personnel have painfully suffered tribulations for their insistence that the appropriate procedures be applied.

Without such personnel who outnumber those ready to do the dirty work of bad politicians, the negative repercussions of these notwithstanding, the Armed Forces would have lost their shine and followed the path of other discredited institutions.

Elsewhere in this edition is a worrying story about how the Chief of Staff (COS) General Headquarters, Burma Camp did not only escape the recommendation of disciplinary action, having been found culpable of misconduct but rather promoted because he was a darling boy of the then political establishment. Perhaps he was rather rewarded for misconduct as a Brigadier-General through promotion to the next rank of Major General and for this to happen in such an unrivalled disciplined institution, wrenches our hearts.

Maj Gen Sampson Adeti allegedly claimed ownership of a Nissan Double cabin pickup donated to the troops of the Southern Command of which he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) in breach of Armed Forces regulations.

The contents of the report of the investigations into his conduct, following a Daily Guide story, constitute ample evidence about how politicians can influence negatively the maintenance of standards of critical institutions such as the Armed Forces or the Police.

In his statement in response to the queries, he appeared to have gone overboard, describing the Daily Guide and the originator of the story as 'bounty hunters' whatever that means.

For the information of Maj Gen Sampson Adeti, we are not a bunch of irresponsible Ghanaians at the Daily Guide as he sought to portray: we constitute important players on the media landscape and would not claim ownership of what does not belong to us.

We would leave no stone unturned in our obsession with protecting and enhancing the sanctity of our Armed Forces and for that matter our Motherland Ghana. Without the professionals and patriots in the colours, some bad nuts in uniform like him ready to do the bidding of power-obsessed politicians at the helm, we would have been perhaps been composing a different story during and after the elections.

We take exception to the untoward remarks he passed in his response to the queries and ask that he rethinks his impression about us.

We do not run down individuals but expose bad deeds such as usurping a vehicle meant for hard-working troops working to protect our apex bank.

His inability to proffer reasonable answers to the questions posed by the investigating officer takes away a lot from his quality as an Officer/Gentleman.

He is an unwanted blemish to this beautiful institution which should be protected by all means.