Ghana Armed Forces

The Commander Support Services Brigade Group, Brigadier General John Agyakwa has commissioned an ultra-modern Command building for the Armed Forces Fire Service (AFFS) on Wednesday, 20 April 2022 in Burma Camp.

Commissioning the building, Brig Gen Agyakwa commended the Director Supply and Transport (S&T) for his initiative and hard work in bringing the plan to fruition. He urged personnel deployed at the Station to maintain the facility.

The Armed Forces Fire Service is an establishment that performs general firefighting duties. Additionally, they train Armed Forces personnel and other civil organisations in firefighting, fire rescue and fire safety compliance.

As part of the Ghanaian Battalion in South Sudan’s Civil Military Corporation (CIMIC) activities in support of locals in its Area of Operational Responsibility (AOR), it has made donations to the Bentiu State Government Hospital and Muslims in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp at Bentiu.

Donation to Hospital

Donating the medication on Thursday 7 April 2022, the Commanding Officer of the Battalion, Lt Col Michael Mfum, noted that the gesture sought to meet some of the medical needs of the Bentiu State Hospital to enable them continuously provide good health care for locals in Bentiu.

In receiving the medications, the Director General of Unity State’s Ministry of Health, Duol Biem Kueiguong expressed appreciation to GHANBATT for supporting Bentiu State Hospital and Unity State at large. He emphasized that the donation was timely as Unity State had lost most of its medical centers to floods. This had resulted in the Bentiu State Hospital recording extremely high medical cases daily and a marked increase in demand for medication.

Donation to Muslims in IDP Camp

On Friday 8 April 2022, the Battalion also donated assorted food items to the Muslim community in Sector 1 of the IDP Camp in Bentiu. It was GHANBATT’s way of supporting the Muslims as they observed the 30 day fasting in the month of Ramadan.

The Sheik of the Mosque in the IDP Camp, Yassin Gatluak Tuak was grateful to GHANBATT for their kind gesture especially at a time when they needed it the most. He prayed for Allah’s blessings for the Battalion and entreated the Battalion to continue to support them.

Ghana’s Honorary Consul to Lebanon, His Excellency Samih Ali Jaafar paid a courtesy call on the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Vice Admiral Seth Amoama on Wednesday, 6 April 2022 at the General Headquarters in Burma Camp. The visit was aimed at strengthening the bilateral relations between Ghana and Lebanon.

The CDS welcomed His Excellency and express his appreciation for the continuous support that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has received over the years.

On his part, HE Samih Jaafar said the call was to officially introduce himself upon assumption of office as Ghana’s Consular General to Lebanon. He assured the CDS and the Military High Command of his support for the Ghanaian Contingent currently in Lebanon.

The Commander, Support Services Brigade Group, Brigadier General John Agyakwa has on Tuesday 7 September 2021 visited the 49 Engineering Regiment (49 Engr Regiment) and Base Supply Depot (BSD) as part of his familiarization tour of units under Command upon assumption of office.

The Commander was briefed by the various Commanding Officers (Cos) on activities of the units. The areas covered were operations, administration and logistics. Challenges facing the units were outlined to which the Commander promised to offer assistance in resolving those within his capabilities and forward the others to Higher Command. He used the opportunity to inspect ongoing and completed projects of the units.

Interacting with the troops, Brigadier General John Agyakwa assured the various units of his support to assist them with the various projects and congratulated personnel for their hard work He further state his vision as Commander “which is to develop our soldiers, into a well lead, disciplined, loyal highly motivated, and contended personnel versatile to switch over as formation to compete on equal footing with their counterparts and excel”. He added that personnel should work together as a team and be innovative in order to achieve their mission. The Commander also admonished the troops to be security conscious and remain alert. He said this was necessary and troops should be alert and report any suspicious scene to Higher Command.

He further cautioned that troops should desist from sending false information on social media platforms on classified military issues. Added that such as it was a punishable offence and troops should be guided by the code of ethics of the Ghana Armed Forces and remain disciplined at all times.

On the Covid-19 pandemic, General Agyakwa urged all to stay safe and observe all the laid down protocols and advised troops to protect themselves and their families.

He was accompanied by the General Staff Officer Grade 1 Lt Colonel Francis Bannerman, The Brigade Chaplain Rev Lt Colonel Ian Adjei and the Brigade Sergeant Major, SWO Richard Taasung.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Command, Brigadier General Moses Mohammed Aryee has commissioned a temporary battalion Headquarters for 11 Mechanised Battalion at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The GOC as part of Exercise Burning Arrow on Tuesday 24 August 2021, commissioned the project on behalf of the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah which forms part of the ongoing developmental projects and transformation of various units in the Ghana Army.

The renovated structure was estimated at GH? 100,000.00 was aimed at creating a conducive administrational environment for both personnel and civilian employees of the battalion.

Commissioning the project, Brig Gen MM Aryee applauded the Military High Command and Nuhu Issah Construction for completing a wonderful edifice for the battalion and stated that the main mandate for this construction was to improve on the quality in administrative matters of the Unit.

The GOC noted that personnel in the battalion should take proper care of the facility and also recommended other civil stakeholders to help in developmental projects in the Ghana Army.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Hon Stephen Yakubu who was present at the commissioning, commended the Military High Command for their role in the security of the Region.

He also thanked all the heads of the various Regional security services for their various support in the Region and also working together with the military as a team to counter terrorism in the region and the country as a whole.

Present at the ceremony were the Commander Special Operations Brigade, Brigadier General Mathew Essien, Regional Police Commander, DCOP/ Dr Gariba Sayibu Pabi, Chief Contractor for Nuhu Issah Construction Limited, Mr Nuhu Issaka Akalbila, Regional NIB Director, Mr Victor Nyekarga and some principal Staff Officers from Army Headquarters and Headquarters Northern Command.

As part of activities lined up to commemorate the 31st Anniversary of Regular Career Course 30 of the Ghana Military Academy (GMA), a charity donation of assorted items was donate to the Sege Adolescent Center on Tuesday 17 August 2021, in the Ada West District.

Among the items donated included; Television sets, Plastic Chairs and Tables, Veronica buckets, Hand sanitizers, Liquid soap, Tissue papers and Dustbins among others.

Presenting the items, the Leader of the delegation, Brigadier General Fiifi Amissah, Defence Financial Controller said 31 years ago, the intake assembled at the Military Academy to train and be commissioned as Officers to serve the country. He said, reflecting over the years of illustrious military service, it dawned on them to annually undertake a project to give back to society rather than make merry, hence, the unanimous decision to support the Adolescent Centre. He was hopeful the Centre would help transform and empower adolescent females into capable and mature women in society.

Receiving the items, the District Director of Ghana Health Service Ms Marry Mantey, expressed satisfaction and noted the kind gesture would go a long way to improve the health needs of adolescents in the District and reduce cases of teenage pregnancy, leading to dropouts and other attendant social vices among the youth.

This follows the exponential rate at which teenage pregnancy had risen in the District, leading to the establishment of the Centre to help educate and support the girl child on how best to eradicate the menace. The intake renovated the facility ahead of the donation.

Dignitaries present were, Director Inspector General, Brig Gen Mohammed Mustapha, Commandant Ghana Military Academy, Brig Gen Charles Adu-Brempong, Director Investigations and Anti-corruption, Col Arthur Kuyipua, Director Communications, Col Anthony Ntem, and Deputy Chief Service Delivery of the Central African Republic (CAR), Col Selassie Gagakuma.

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and Accra Technical University (ATU) in a seminar resolved for strong cybersecurity solutions in the national interest at the Command Officers’ Mess Conference Room in Burma Camp on Monday, 16 August 2021.

The seminar was on the theme, ‘Protecting the society; essential cybersecurity principles’.

The Vice Chancellor of ATU, Professor Samuel Nii Odai in an address said, the quest to strengthen a stronger relationship with GAF provide opportunities for both institutions with a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). For this, he made a maiden disclosure to the military that the National Accreditation Board (NAB) had granted ATU to pursue a Four (4) year Bachelor of Arts Degree in Cybersecurity starting this academic year.

Guest facilitator and Interim Academic Director Cybersecurity Initiative, University of Delaware USA, Professor Nii O Attoh-Okine in a lecture, explained the 5 most important principles of cyber breach and how to use logistic, medical, transport, armed attack analysis, drone methods among others to squeeze data for the truth.

He encouraged GAF to employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) and military use of block chain, Digital twin, and multi-facto system authentication to clear accesses which easily identifies any choke in the system.

Professor Attoh-Okine further extolled the importance of security awareness in any organization that has critical data and information they cannot afford to lose. Many companies he said were defenseless against cyber-attacks. He attributed these attacks to lack of employee’s knowledge of proper cybersecurity services. He lamented the rise in cybercrimes and called for urgent steps to fight the menace.

The Chief of Staff at the General Headquarters (COS), Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh who represented the Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS), Vice Admiral Seth Amoama at the seminar said that, the end of the lecture meant the tone was set for the establishment of GAF cybersecurity hub.

The President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has toured the 3 Garrison, Liberation Barracks in Sunyani as part of his Regional Tour of Bono Region.

The ceremony was held on Wednesday 11 August 2021. On arrival, a full Guard was mounted in his Honour. As part of the tour, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inspected the ongoing projects of an assembly hall, an NCO accommodation facility and climaxed the ceremony with the commissioning of the 3BN new Office Complex which doubles as the Battalion headquarters.

The edifice was allocated by the Middle Belt Development Authority and funded by the $1million per constituency initiative. The contractor of the projects is JKY Ghana Ltd.

Present were the Bono Regional Minister, Hon Justina Banahene, General Officer Commanding Central Command, Brig Gen Joseph Aphour, Maj Gen Opoku-Adusei (RTD), Traditional Authorities from Sunyani, Berekum and Wamfie. Others are heads of other Security Services and Institutions.

Brigadier General John Agyakwa has taken over as the Commander, Support Services Brigade Group after a colourful handing/taking over and pulling out ceremony held on Friday 13 August 2021 at the Support Services Brigade Group Headquarters.

He takes over from Brigadier General Mathew Essien who has been appointed Commander of the newly established Special Operations Brigade.

The Chief of Staff (COS), at the General Headquarters Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh supervised the handing/taking over ceremony between Brigadier General Matthew Essien and Brigadier General John Agyakwa.

The Guest of Honour, Major General Andoh in his remarks expressed gratitude for the honour done him. Adding that, commanders should always recognize the military as a service to humanity whenever appointed into office.

Major General Andoh commended the out-going Commander, Brigadier General Matthew Essien for the massive transformation he brought to the Brigade.

He congratulated the new Commander, Brigadier General John Agyakwa and added that, he was hopeful that his wealth of experience would help him to steer the Brigade in achieving its mission of effectively and efficiently coordinating the logistic support of the Armed Forces in peace and during operational deployment.

The out-going Commander, Brigadier General Essien was grateful to the personnel of the Brigade for the support they gave him during his tenure of office. He urged personnel to continue being loyal, dedicated and work hard for the betterment of the Brigade.

He further advised the personnel to support the incoming Commander to succeed. He was grateful to High Command for giving him the opportunity to serve.

Present at the ceremony were the Chief Staff Officer of the Army Headquarters Brigadier General Agyeman-Prempeh and Senior Officers, from GAF.

Handing over of the container shop for Ex A/Cpl Amartey Prince.

A short but impressive handing and taking over ceremony has been held for Brigadier General Barimah Brako Owusu as the new Commander, Army Training Command (ATRAC) on Tuesday, 3 August 2021.

He takes over from Brigadier General Winfred Hedidor-Dzandu who has been appointed as the Commander of the newly established First Armoured Brigade Command.

In his address, the Out-going Commander, Brigadier General Hedidor-Dzandu said he was thankful for the opportunity to serve and also expressed his profound gratitude to Officers, Men,Women and Civilian Employees of the Formation for their co-operation and loyalty during his tenure as the Commander, ATRAC.

He assured the Military High Command that the new Commander and his vast experience in military operations would help build and develop a world class professional body with integrity, accountability and excellence.

He urged personnel of the Formation not to relent on their oars but rather continue with their dedication and commitment to duty. He seized the opportunity to appeal to Officers, Men and Women of the Formation to also remain professional and support the new commander to succeed with his vision and mission for the Formation.

Brigadier General Barima Brako Owusu was commissioned into the Ghana Army Infantry Corp in 1992. He holds Masters of Arts Degree in Public Administration from GIMPA and Masters in Disaster Risk Management from Amadu Bello University, Nigeria. He is also an Associate member of the Nigeria Institute of Management and Public Administration. He has done all his career progression courses commensurate with his rank both home and abroad.

Dignitaries present were the Commandant MATS, Major General CKAA Awity, Deputy Commandant MATS, Brigadier General Solomon Osabuty, Commander Ghana Military Academy, Brigadier General Charles Adu-Brimpong and other Senior Officers from the General Headquarters.

The out-going Commander Support Service Brigade (Sp Svcs Bde) Brigadier General Mathew Essien paid a day working visit to units under his Commad to bid them farewell on Tuesday 3 August 2021.

Among the units he visited were the Armed Forces Central Band (AFCB), Forces Pay Regiment (FPR), Signal Regiment, Defence Mechanical Transport Battalion (DefMtbn) Base Workshop, 49 Engineering Regiment, Base Supply Depot (BSD) and Ghana Military Police (GMP).

He congratulated the Commanding Officers, Officers, Men, Women and Civilian Employees of the units for the good work done during his tenure of office despite the challenges they faced in relation to their duties. He urged them to continue with their hard work and not relent on their efforts.

Brigadier General Essien was grateful to the units for their loyalty, dedication and cordial relationship he received during his tenure. He urged personnel to remain disciplined and that the rules and regulations of the Ghana Armed Forces must be obeyed by all in order not to tarnish the image of the Brigade and the Armed Forces as a whole.

He advised troops to continue to exhibit professionalism when discharging their duties. He added that troops should not post military issues on social media to be sanctioned.

The Command admonished troops to adhere to the COVID 19 safety protocols since there is the third variance known as “Delta Variance” which is very contagious, he advised troops to protect themselves and their families.

Brigadier General Matthew Essien has appointed the Commander Special Operations Brigade whiles Brigadier General John Agyakwa takes over as the Incoming Commander Sp Svcs Bde.