Former Deputy Minister for Education and MP for Assin South, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has criticized President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to remove the Chief of Defence Staff and all Service Chiefs of the Ghana Armed Forces.
He described the decision as “egoistic and premature.”
President Mahama, as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, has made significant changes to the military’s leadership, appointing new Acting Service Chiefs pending consultation with the Council of State.
The new appointees include Brig. Gen. William Agyapong as Acting Chief of Defence Staff, Brig. Gen. Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu as Acting Chief of Army Staff, Cdre. Godwin Livinus Bessing as Acting Chief of Naval Staff, Air Cdre. Eric Agyen-Frempong as Acting Chief of Air Staff, and Brig. Gen. Glover Ashong Annan as Acting Chief of Staff. Their appointments take effect from March 24, 2025.
Reacting to the changes, Rev. Ntim Fordjour took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his disapproval, stressing that the dismissals affected all 12 senior military officers of Major-General rank and above, most of whom had six more years before retirement.
He warned that this move would place a financial burden on the public purse, as gratuities amounting to millions of cedis would need to be paid.
He also criticized the decision to replace senior generals with Brigadier Generals, arguing that it weakened the military’s command structure.
“Just when Ghana expanded its military might; upgrading key corps such as armour, artillery, signals and 48 Engineers to Brigade status thereby attaining 4-star General status for the Chief of Defence of Staff, Mahama has reset the top hierarchy back to 1-star General as Chief of Defence Staff. This reset is indeed backward, costly and farfetched,” he wrote.
READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW
President Mahama has today dismissed Chief of Defence Staff and all Service Chiefs in Ghana Armed Forces and all 12 most senior military officers of the rank of Major-General equivalent and above (i.e all 2 star Generals, 3 star Generals and 4 star General).
Most of these Generals by rank and age, have six (6) more years to serve in the military before their retirement.
What this implies on the public purse is that, gratuities will have to be paid running into millions of cedis due to the egoistic premature dismissals of senior ranked generals, replacing them with lower ranked Brigadier Generals and equivalent (1 star Generals) at the command of Ghana Armed Forces.
Just when Ghana expanded its military might; upgrading key corps such as armour, artillery, signals and 48 Engineers to Brigade status thereby attaining 4-star General status for the Chief of Defence of Staff, Mahama has reset the top hierarchy back to 1-star General as Chief of Defence Staff. This reset is indeed backward, costly and farfetched.
