WITHHOLD PROMOTIONS AND RECENT DEFENCE POSTINGS TRANSITION TEAM RECOMMENDS(FRONT PAGE) January 14, 2009

Story: Michael Donkor
Recent promotions made in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), as well as defence attaché postings made to foreign missions, are likely to be put on hold as a result of complaints of irregularities.
Sources close to the transition team on National Security disclosed to the Daily Graphic that this and other recommendations were to be made to President John Atta Mills, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the GAF, after the transition team had reviewed the new promotions and postings and received complaints of irregularities about some of the postings and the manner in which the exercise was undertaken.
The postings and promotions were made on December 22, 2008, two weeks before President Mills was sworn into office, and that of the promotions took effect on December 31, 2008 while the postings takes effect on January 31, 2009.
The promotions and the postings had already been published by the GAF in their restricted letters and copies given to all the service chiefs, according to service regulations.
Consequently, National Security has requested for all the documents pertaining to the processes of the postings for further scrutiny.
At the time of filing this report, National Security had received most of the documents covering the postings and promotions from the Military High Command and had held discussions with the military leadership to discuss the irregularities found.
The source said the meeting affirmed that as a disciplined entity, it was important for the GAF to maintain such discipline within the rank and file of the officers and men of the service, for which reason acts that were likely to break down that discipline and create disenchantment among the personnel were not supposed to be entertained.
It said President Mills’s administration was poised to maintain a high level of discipline and fairness and meet the needs of the Armed Forces to enable them to perform creditably and hold the flag of Ghana very high among the comity of nations.
It said, for instance, that some of the officers being posted as defence attaches were junior to those who were going to serve under them.
Another source close to the Military High Command, however, told the Daily Graphic that the due processes were followed in making those promotions and postings and that there was no cause for alarm.
It said all the service chiefs signed the lists for the promotions and postings, after which the then Commander-in-Chief of the GAF, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, gave his assent to it on December 29, 2008.
The source said the postings and promotions were also in order and in accordance with GAF regulations, adding that they met all the constitutional requirements of the GAF and that the announcement of the appointments and promotions had been delayed because of presidential run-off which had diverted the attention of the whole country.
The source explained that promotions and postings within the GAF were a routine and that every year two of such moves were undertaken.
It stated that this was not the first time that the announcement of such moves had been delayed, citing the year 2000 when the National Democratic Congress was about to hand over power to the New Patriotic Party and said similar postings and promotions were announced a day before the handing-over ceremony.