Ghana - Ministry for Defence

Article 210 of the 1992 Republican Constitution enjoins Ghana as a sovereign state to maintain Armed Forces comprising the Army, Navy and Air Force. Section (3) specifies that the military and other security agencies must be adequately equipped and maintained to defend the territorial boundaries, external and internal of Ghana.

In order to fulfil this constitutional function, the nation maintains an Army, Navy and Air Force with the Ministry of Defence responsible for initiating policies and for maintaining a state of preparedness based on Government direction. This involves government expenditure on the procurement of logistics to enable all the categorized defence service departments to perform professionally. The composition of Ghana Armed Forces is made up of the Army, Navy, and Air Forces with it inter- allied head offices including GAFSCC, KAIPTC, MATS, and Military Hospital.

At independence, Nkrumah expanded the armed forces to enhance the country's national prestige. The army grew in size and complexity, and the government established a separate air force and navy. This growth exceeded Ghana's national security requirements, however, and imposed an economic burden on the new state.

The military establishment, with a strength of nearly 16,000 officers and men in 1970, assisted in the maintenance of public order and provided assurances of territorial integrity. Orgamzed and trained along British lines, the armed forces were equipped from Western sources, primarily the Umted Kingdom and other countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Organized into an army of about 14,000 men, an air force ofabout 1,000, and a navy of nearly 1,000, the military establishment was well trained and well led; it enjoyed general publicrespect and confidence.

In late 1968 Air Marshall M. A. Otu, who succeeded the General Kotoka as general officer commanding the armed forces [but not as a member of the NLC], and his _aide, a navy lieutenant, were arrested for alleged subversive activity. Both were charged with implication in plans to overthrowthe military government and to bring about the return of Nkrumah to power. The government's case attempted to connect the air marshal and his aide with the operations of two Soviet fishing trawlers seized in Ghanaian waters in October 1968. The two of-ficers were tried by a military court and were acquitted; Air Marshal Otu was given a lower military staff position, and his aide was returned to duty with the navy.

In the decades since independence, Ghana has continued to maintain a comparatively large military force. By the early 1990s, it had become clear that the government would have to respond to popular demands for greater economic growth by reducing the size of the military establishment.

The Ghanaian military, with a personnel strength of 6,850 in 1994, helped to maintain internal security and to preserve Ghana's territorial integrity. Throughout the 1980s, the generally pro-Western armed forces relied on a variety of sources for foreign military assistance, including the United States, Italy, Libya, and the Soviet Union. Organized into a 5,000-member army, a 1,200-member air force, and a 1,000-member navy, the military was capable of performing its missions. During the 1980s and early 1990s, moreover, the Ghanaian armed forces and some police personnel participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Cambodia, Croatia, Western Sahara, Iraq/Kuwait, Rwanda, and Lebanon. Ghana also contributed troops to the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group peacekeeping force in Liberia. The history of the Ghana Armed Forces dates back to the pre-colonial era. There were in the then Gold Coast indigenous military organisations before the coming of the Europeans, but these were not standing armies. They were rather called Asafo Companies. Threats against British interests during the period of the Slave Trade and trading in general in the West African sub-region caused the British to establish a defence organisation which was called The Royal African Company. The operations of other trading companies of Dutch, Portuguese and French also necessitated the establishment of defence organisations to contain opposition and stem the competitive aspirations of rival metropolitan powers.

Later, all these militias were amalgamated by Sir George Goldie an adventurer who gave up military career to explore Egypt and Sudan, and the he gave them the name The Royal Niger Company. It was this force that Sir Charles MacCarthy, one of the earliest Governors of Gold Coast and Nigeria, later organised into a Regiment of 3 companies called the Royal African Colonial Corps of Light Infantry with the primary aim of preventing Ashanti raids into his domain.

The British wanted peace for better trade relations and therefore wanted to make the whole of the Gold Coast a protectorate. This triggered off Sir Garnet Wolseley Ashanti campaign of 1873 74 which became known as the Sagrenti War. In the pursuit of this war, native troops were raised alongside British troops in the British Colonies in West Africa. Earlier in 1865 a Corps of Hausas had been established to take care of upheavals in the Sub region. This force which was under the command of Captain Glover was popularly known as Glover Hausas and was used in the 1873 Ashanti Campaign. It was however disbanded after the operation, leaving only 350 who were used to form the nucleus of the Gold Coast Constabulary in 1879.

The constabularies who served the trading companies were observed to be too rudimentary and inadequate. They were therefore transformed into a more disciplined organisation, given a military bearing with improvement in their drill and training and given the name. The Gold Coast Constabulary. This was organised into a Regiment of 3 companies and was later incorporated into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) officered by British and British NCOs, which became an integral part of the British Arm mainly for the maintenance of internal security and defence of the Colonial territories. By 1906 the Gold Coast Regiment had been reorganised with stations in Kumasi, Accra, Mampong, Nkoranza and Odumasi. The GC Regiment as part of the 1st Division of WAFF took part settled down to peacetime duties, and in 1933 it was reorganised in anticipation of the 2nd World War.

In 1939 Lt Gen Giffard was appointed as the first General Officer Commanding with his headquarters in Achimota, Accra. The 24th Gold Coast Brigade under the Command of Brigadier CEM Richards fought in East Africa and later in Burma as part of the famous 81st and 82nd West Africa Divisions. On their return from Burma the Regiment was reorganised. All the wartime Battalions were disbanded, leaving only the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The experience of the demobilized soldiers however acted as a powerful catalyst for the demand for independence from the Colonial British Government. At independence the Ghana Army consisted of a Brigade Group of 3 Infantry Battalions, a Field Battery and Field Engineer Squadron, a Recruit Training centre and the Supporting Services.