Another NDC loyalist at the Square is Group Captain Frank Kobla Kudoh (GH/2728) who is the Airforce Liaison Officer at the Ministry of Defence. Group Captain FK Kudoh is a die- hard member and supporter of the NDC. He has been strategically positioned at the Ministry of Defence to serve the interest of his sponsors (NDC). Just as the JAG, Group Captain FK Kudoh, who is a lawyer, is pursuing a Masters degree in law (LLM) and is exploiting his appointment to advantage. He is officially not on study leave after enjoying same for his first law degree and professional law course at the Ghana School of law.
To complete the list of Liaison Officers is the appointment of Commander Stephen Billins Nyam (GH/2872) who is the Naval Liaison Officer to the Ministry of Defence. Commander SB Nyam is also a well-known NDC member and one of the confidants of Rear Admirals Faidoo and Beick-Baffour.
Members of PACOM are baffled by these developments at the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
What some members of our community are saying is that the NDC fraternity is exploiting the fact that the wives of the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff are Voltarians and thus are being used as conduit-pipes by NDC lobbyists and pressure groups to get to the hearts and ears of the two most powerful personalities in the Ministry of Defence and the Ghana Armed Forces.
But are these postures, attitudes, actions, inactions and omissions helpful to the interest of the nation and the NPP administration? Only time will tell.
It is important to let the Minister and some of the Armed Forces Council members know that a lot of officers, men and civilians employees of the Ghana Armed Forces are disappointed and worried about these developments. The general feeling is that the core and allied NDC members and sympathizers who enjoyed during the NDC regimes of Jerry Rawlings, John Mills and John Mahama are the ones still enjoying under President Nana Addo.
The fear of members of PACOM is that gradually and incrementally more and more NPP faithfuls in our community are getting disillusioned, disappointed and worried over the chances of the NPP in 2020 and beyond. The members of PACOM know that nothing can change the mentality and voting pattern of the core NDC members in our community. So why do you not cater for interests of NPP members?
Members of PACOM are therefore disappointed that even the Chief of Defence Staff, who they thought would thread cautiously, is now in bed with very known NDC officers such as Rear Admiral Beick-Baffour, Brigadier Generals Kporku and Gyasensir and Air Commodore Dzamefe. Air Commodore Dzamefe, for instance, is reported to be the “darling boy” of the Chief of Defence Staff because he was his Deputy Commandant at KAIPTC. Is that all that you need as a sign of loyalty, Mr. Chief of Defence Staff?
Oh God have mercy on the NPP and its followers!!
There is no doubt about the fact that these Voltarian officers are the in- laws of the Chief of Defence Staff and the Defence Minister. But are they the people who have catapulted the two of you to your current positions? Certainly No.
The votes from the Ashanti, Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Central, Western, Greater Accra and some parts of the three Northern Regions ensured victory for the NPP. Only one constituency in the Volta Region voted significantly for the NPP. So please be mindful of that and please do not incur the wrath of the people from those Regions.
The Chief of Defence Staff has already reached the ultimate ambition and perhaps may not be motivated any longer as there might be no more for him to achieve. Yes, that may be true. But after self- actualization, there is a reputation to protect. There is a legacy to be made and to be left. It may be either positive or negative.
We wished that Lieutenant General OB Akwa would leave a very positive and remarkable legacy. Already, some officers and men are getting disappointed in him. The general perception is that he is “too soft”, “not firm” and “is allowing the vaganes and volatilities to sway him to the enemies’ corner”. That, “he is too religious for the position of Chief of Defence Staff.
Just imagine what the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff did for the former President and the NDC and compare that with what is happening now. The former CDS and his NDC drew the battle lines and never bothered to consider the interests of the NPP and other minority parties at that time. They ignored all the rules of fair play, natural justice, equity and equality and yet justified their actions with the same constitution, Armed Forces Act and Regulations.
Mr. Chief of Defence Staff, remember that the then Military Secretary, for instance, personally represented the Armed Forces against Lieutenant Colonel Adjaye Gaisie in court when the Legal Directorates of the Armed Forces and the Army were available, willing and ready to defend the interest of the Ghana Armed Forces. He was actuated by malice against a former colleague because there was an agenda set by the Biekros, Ahiaglos, Adokpas, Boimahs and Allohs to get him released from the Armed Forces.
Today, the same former Military Secretary has been recycled by the General Okyeres and is the one advising the Chief of Defence Staff on promotions and appointments together with the Gyasensirs, Dzamefes and Kporkus.
Please, Mr. Chief of Defence Staff, do not be deceived by any arguments of professionalism and merit. If that were so during the NDC era certain officers wearing the ranks of Generals and Colonels could never have gone beyond the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and their equivalents in the Navy and Airforce. But what did we see. All sorts of characters have been rewarded with the ranks of Generals and Colonels which, objectively, they do not deserve.
The enviable ranks of Generals and Colonels and their equivalents in the Navy and Airforce have been cheapened so much that even known thieves and drug addicts are now Generals. And the status quo is being maintained!!!
What an irony of fate for the marginalized professionally upright non- NDC officers? When do they catch up?
The Armed Forces of today are unacceptably heavy at the top with a lean middle level which should not have been the norm. The hierarchical and pyramidal arrangement of professional Armed Forces require very thin top levels with heavy middle and saturated lower levels. But what do we see in Ghana today because of the reckless promotions and appointments of the NDC? The direct opposite of the norm.
The number of Generals and Colonels and their equivalents in the Ghana Armed Forces is outrageous. Even the British and American Armed Forces do not have those numbers considering the sizes of our Army, Navy and Airforce.
Ghana’s Army is just about a Division of a proper NATO or British standard. Yet, we have over forty (40) Army Generals with proposals to promote more undeserving ones for the sake of satisfying some constituencies and interests.
The situation is the same for the Navy and the Airforce. How many ships (worthy of appellation) do we have in our Navy to merit the number of Admirals, Commodores and Naval Captains? What about the Airforce? When all the aircrafts hurriedly and irregularly purchased are unable to fly owing to lack of maintenance and wrong acquisitions we still have several Marshals, Air Commodores and Group Captains!!!
These incongruous numbers of Generals, Colonels and their equivalents have an effect on the performance, operations and administration of the Armed Forces. The real work of the Armed Forces, especially in the Army, is done by the Other Ranks and lower echelons of officers (Majors and below). But the numbers of the Other Ranks are inadequate considering the tasks and challenges confronting the security services.
Monies that could be used to recruit, train and equip the Other Ranks are going into the pay and allowances of undeserving Generals and Colonels. The pay and allowance of one Brigadier General can take care of at least five (5) private soldiers. It is these private soldiers who would do the patrols, manning and protection of VVIPs, VIPs and very important installations.
It is these private soldiers who would protect our water bodies and environment in the fight against galamsey, illegal chain-saw operations in our forests and illegal and indiscriminate sand collection.
And yet, nobody is doing very serious costs-benefits analyses of these over-bloated numbers of Generals and Colonels on the budgets of the Armed Forces.
The numbers of Other Ranks and young officers would have to be augmented at faster pace than those of the Generals and Colonels in order to confront the security challenges effectively and efficiently. The Generals have pick-ups and other vehicles parked in their homes as second and third vehicles when the units do not have adequate administrative and operational vehicles. The Generals could not be bothered about the system because the vehicles are “part of their entitlements and status symbols” when they could make sacrifices especially when nations all over the world are implementing austerity measures and finding better ways of improving their security in a more cost effective manner.
That is not the case in Ghana when day in and out surrogates and lobbyists are wangling the General Okyeres, Akwas, Ayamdos, Parliamentarians and Ministers for more promotions and appointments. We may have to set our priorities right and eschew the corrupt practices and all forms of malpractices.
These bold steps can only be taken when we have firm and decisive moves from and by our Ministers and Military High Command. Until investigations are properly conducted into allegations of corruption and malpractices for the necessary punitive measures to be implemented when persons shall have been taken through the due processes, the system will continue to be weak, ineffective and inefficient.
Resources meant for real security concerns must be protected and properly channeled. When officers and men entrusted with resources suddenly become millionaires, owning all sorts of assets and nothing is done about it, others would be encouraged to do same or similar things. We need to do something about the corruption and malpractices in the security services in order to free and have resources for their intended purposes.
Members of the Patriotic Concerned Officers and Men (PACOM) are equally worried about the situation at the Ministry of Interior and the security services under its supervision namely the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana National Fire Service.
The new councils for all these security organizations have been inaugurated. There are a few concerns about the membership of some of the councils. Some die-hard NDC members have managed to gain membership on most of the councils and this may be a source of worry. Some of these council members are there because of their official positions while others are there by appointment.
In both cases-whether by official position or appointment- members of PACOM feel strongly that deliberate conscious efforts should have been made to ensure that persons who occupy certain official positions that make them automatic members of any of the security councils are somehow affiliated to or inclined towards the NPP. In the case of those by appointment, it should have been a matter of course.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case owing to the selfish behavior and conduct of certain individuals occupying very sensitive positions in government and the party hierarchy.
We are reliably informed that there are still several NDC moles at the Ministry of Interior. Just as the situation at the Ministry of Defence, the Chief Directors, Directors and Principal Officers who were at the Ministry during President Mahama’s time are still in charge. There is no doubt that these officials would pretend to be acting for and in the interest of the NPP administration when in fact they are agents of the NDC sabotaging in various ways in very clever ways.
The question is could there not be a form of postings among the Ministries and within the Public Administration System as was done during the tenure of the NDC between 2009 and 2017?
The explanation that the President is a “father for all”, “they are all Ghanaians” and “we are afraid” should be stopped. Loyalty to the NPP administration must be a pre-condition in addition to merit, maturity and experience.
Members of PACOM have serious concerns about the appointments held by certain senior Police Officers at the Police Headquarters.
We are reliably informed that the Minister of Interior does not want the IGP to “touch some Northerners” at the Police Headquarters. These three officers are very known NDC members who did everything humanly possible to ensure victory for John Mahama in the 2016 elections.
Currently, they are in charge of Finance, Human Resource and Motor Traffic and Transport Department. The Police Paymaster General is a dyed in wool NDC member who was put there by the Mahama-Alhassan era and is to be retained on the instructions of the Minister of Interior. This senior officer is alleged to have “dribbled” the former IGP, John Kudalor.
A rift is alleged to have developed between the former IGP and the Paymaster General over monies received for and on behalf of the Police in respect of police duties during the 2016 elections.
A lot of Police Officers and men are alleged to have complained that their allowances for duties during the 2016 elections were drastically cut and kept by the Paymaster General. He is alleged to have refused to account properly for those monies to the former IGP until he was honorably retired early this year.
This senior officer is believed to have won the hearts of the Ministers of Interior and the Vice President and has therefore become untouchable.
Certainly, this senior officer is a mole of the NDC in the current Police Administration.
As the Paymaster General, this senior Police Officer holds the key to the administrative and operational capabilities of the Ghana Police. He could sabotage all administrative and operational activities of the Ghana Police by either refusing to release funds or not releasing enough and against time. That is precisely what this senior Police Officer is suspected of doing. The rank and file of the Police service are complaining about hard times now when in fact there should be remarkable improvements in everything now under the presidency of Nana Addo.
There is a similar problem with the senior Officer responsible for the MTTD who is making life uncomfortable for drivers thereby making the NPP administration unpopular in the eyes of those in the transport business (transport owners, drivers and passengers). This senior Officer is a well known NDC member. He was the immediate past notorious Regional Police Commander for the Brong Ahafo Region. He was in bed with the former Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr. Eric Opoku and former Minister for Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda. They terrorized and persecuted NPP supporters and members in the Brong Ahafo Region especially the Ahafo areas of Acherensua, Goaso Sankore where the brother of the Alaji Collins Dauda, Naaba, killed and maimed humans beings with impurity and protection from the security services (especially the police and the military) which had Northerners with extreme loyalty to John Mahama as their heads.
This senior Police Officer had said it openly in Sunyani that he was working to ensure victory for the NDC and that if the NPP won the elections he would retire from the Police Service. A senior Police Officer with that type of mentality and attitude is to be kept at such a sensitive position at the Police Headquarters to continue to sabotage the NPP with the blessing and protection of the Minister of Interior. That is unacceptable as the MTTD plays very useful roles in ensuring security and safety on our roads, in our cities, towns and villages.
A saboteur of that caliber must not be entertained at such an important office. Mr. Minister of Interior, please lift the “untouchable order” on him to allow the IGP unfettered room to deploy his officers and men in suitable positions to ensure effective and efficient security for all Ghanaians.
The third senior officer being pampered by the Minister of Interior is Mrs. Beatrice Vib-Sanziri who is in charge of Human Resource. We can understand why the Minister of Interior – a Dagarti- wants to protect a fellow Dagarti.
We are aware that her husband-Brigadier General Francis Vib Sanzari, the immediate past boss of NADMO and now the Director General International Peace Support Operations in the Ghana Armed Forces was your schoolmate and a very good friend of the Minister of Interior. But is that the major over-riding factor that should determine the deployment of a senior police officer by the IGP? No. It is efficiency, effectiveness, competence, merit, ability, skills and above all loyalty that must inform the decision to post to or keep a senior police officer at a certain appointment and not only ethnicity and cronyism.
The officer in charge of human resource determines which persons get recruited into the Police Service as Officers or Men and Women. She may use her position to sabotage the NPP. It was the NDC government that gave her accelerated promotions and appointments and therefore she would forever be grateful to them. She was sent to the UK for over three years during the NDC administration of Mills-Mahama. She would be ungrateful to turn her back on them. She would continue to use NDC protocol lists to recruit persons into the Police Service.
It is the calibre of persons recruited into the Police Service that will ultimately determine how the service performs its duties and confronts the security challenges in an ever dynamic very sensitive and important position in the hands of a political opponent such as the incumbent Director General in charge of Human Resource in the Ghana Police Service.
