COAS Issue New Directives On Repatriation
The Office of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is a powerful corridor anywhere in the world and the occupant of the exalted office, in Ghana’s case Major General T Oppong-Peprah, who wears a second heavier badge as a leader, is an influential personality by all standards.
But under his tenure as the Chief of Army Staff, the Army can be described as unprofessional, undisciplined, disloyal, unpatriotic, and frustratingly weak. It is an understatement to even say the Army, under the current COAS, is in complete disarray, DAYBREAK intelligence sources say.
Though a chunk of our soldiers hate to harbour that feeling, the fact simply is that it has become a matter of national shame and disgrace that Ghana had an army that protected illegal mining sites under the guise of Operation Calm-Life. Worse still is the disclosure that the Army engages in land guard duties in which soldiers can find attraction to dump professional courses outside for land guard and galamsey duties in Ghana.
According to DAYBREAK sources, eight Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who are serving with the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been repatriated for their refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The SNCOs were part of an 800-strong contingent of task force drawn from various units of GAF and Ghana Battalion 87 (Ghanbatt).
Upon landing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), the eight men were sent to the 5Bn Senior NCOs Mess in Burma Camp.
A source at the Military High Command, who confirmed the story to the paper, was short of attributing their reason for the refusal, and whether that was borne out of religious grounds.
But for extra-military duties like galamsey and land guard duties, the Armed Forces has never witnessed such open display of indiscipline till today, our highly-placed sources intimate.
The main contingent is expected back in the country this August after one year stay in the Middle East country.
The eight have since been released to go home, pending further action.
DAYBREAK has also sighted a letter dated 7th June 2021 tilted REVIEW OF POLICY DIRECTIVE ON PERSONNEL REPATRIATED ON DISCIPLINARY GROUNDS and signed by Colonel J Amanor for the Chief of Army Staff.
The instructions in the letter take effect from the day Colonel Amanor signed the letter.
According to letter, the ban on personnel repatriated from mission areas for disciplinary cases from 3 to 5 years to reduce acts of indiscipline on Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) has been extended.
“In spite of the current 5 years ban, acts of indiscipline in the mission areas continue to rise. It has therefore become necessary to institute a more stringent measure to eradicate cases of indiscipline on PKO”, Colonel Amanor wrote.
Concluding, Colonel Amanor wrote “I am to convey that henceforth personnel repatriated on disciplinary grounds from PKO will serve a 10-year ban from the date of disembarkation in Ghana. On completion of the 10-years ban, however, an offender’s Commanding Officer would be required to submit a special report through the appropriate channels to this HQ, stating whether or not, the culprit’s conduct has improved and thus can be deployed to the mission area”.
