Recruitment into GAF not based on Regionalism(Page 3) July 17, 2008

Story:Michael Donkor
THE Military High Command has stated that recruitment into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is not based on regionalism and ethnicity.
It made it clear that recruitment and commission into the GAF was based on the people who made themselves available for employment into the service, and therefore called on all Ghanaians to avoid dragging the military into issues that could jeorpadise the security of the country.
The command was reacting to a recent statement by former President Jerry Rawlings that President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), appointed his brother, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor as the Minister of Defence, and had recruited more Ashantis into the GAF.
A source close to the command told the Daily Graphic that out of a total of 6,410 recruits and 462 officers enlisted into the Ghana Armed Forces between 2001 and 2007, the Volta Region recorded the highest number with 1,334 and 108 respectively.
This was followed by the Eastern Region which had 1,122 for other ranks and 74 commissioned as officers.
The Greater Accra and the Brong Ahafo regions each had 53 officers commissioned within that period but had 502 and 480 enlisted as other ranks respectively.
The Ashanti Region had 875 enlisted as other ranks and 48 commissioned as officers .
The others are the Central Region which had 53 commissioned as officers, with 819 recruited as other ranks, while the Northern Region had 338 recruited as other ranks and 29 commissioned as officers.
The Upper East Region had 33 commissioned as officers and 446 recruited as other ranks while the Upper West Region had 220 recruited as other ranks and 29 commissioned as officers.
The rest are Western Region; 16 commissioned as officers and 274 as other ranks.
Currently, 27.6 per cent of the other ranks and 24.6 per cent of officers of the GAF, the higest regional percentages are from the Volta Region
This is followed by 15.9 per cent from the other ranks and 19.3 from the officer level coming from the Eastern Region.
Upper East Region has 7.7 per cent as other ranks and 7. 1 per cent as officers in the GAF.
Ashanti Region has 11.5 percent as officers and 10.3 as other ranks while Brong Ahafo 5.0 per cent as other ranks and 3.4 per cent as officers.
Central Region has 11.1 per cent as officers and 10.6 per cent as other ranks while Greater Accra Region has 6.8 per cent as other ranks and 11.4 per cent as officers.
Northern Region has 6.2 per cent as officers and 5.5 per cent as other ranks in the GAF while Upper West has 3.8 per cent as other ranks and 5.5 per cent as officers.
Western Region has 3.2 per cent as officers and 3.3 per cent as other ranks in the GAF.
The source said further that considering the statistics available, a lot of qualified people from the Volta Region had interest in joining the GAF to serve the country hence the high number from the region in the service.
It said this did not mean that someone deliberately enlisted them into the GAF based on their ethnic background.
The source said the GAF was a professional institution and non-partisan and would continue to be as such.
It therefore, appealed to politicians and other members of the society not to try to divide the GAF on political or ethnic lines since that would not augur well for the service.
It also cautioned Ghanaians not to drag the military into politics.
It said having joined the army, one became first and foremost a Ghanaian serving his or her nation with all the loyalty, commitment and dedication.
The source explained that the GAF was full of professionals, and warned that any attempt to sow a seed of mistrust in the service would not be accepted.