Ghana Armed Forces bid farewell to eight retiring generals at Burma Camp parade

Pinned summary · as of 04:24

The Ghana Armed Forces marked the retirement of eight senior officers with a farewell parade at Burma Camp in Accra on Friday, 25 September. Seven of them are Army brigadier generals and one is an Air Force air commodore, all now leaving active service.

What we know

• A send-off parade for eight retiring generals took place at Burma Camp in Accra, attended by serving personnel, relatives, friends and colleagues.
• The retirees are Air Commodore Mathias Awuah and Brigadier Generals Andrews Seth Mensah Attoh, Albert Yaw Assiamah, Kweku Dankwa Hagan, Augustine Asiedu, Michael Kwadwo Opoku, Selassie Gagakuma and Omari John.
• Air Vice Marshal Joshua Lartei Mensah-Larkai, the Chief of Staff at General Headquarters, saluted the retirees for their leadership and service, and stressed the discipline and professionalism they leave behind in the forces.
• At the parade, the special guest, Air Marshal Michael Samson Oje, thanked the officers for their years of duty and said the country should keep drawing on their knowledge and experience after retirement.
• Speaking for the retirees, Brigadier General Augustine Asiedu thanked those who backed their careers and appealed to serving soldiers to hold on to discipline, loyalty and dedication.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Only Graphic Online reported gifts for the retirees: citations and mementos from the forces, plus sponsorship and an undisclosed sum of money from President John Dramani Mahama as Commander-in-Chief. Onua Online did not mention them.
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  Graphic Online alone said Air Marshal Samson-Oje credited the retirees with overseas peacekeeping-type duty in eight countries: South Sudan and Sudan, Lebanon and Liberia, plus Chad, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo. No other report carried this.
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  Graphic Online alone reported Air Vice Marshal Mensah-Larkai's hope that the farewell ceremony becomes a permanent custom of the forces, and his description of it as a dignified passage from active service into retirement.
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  Onua Online alone reported that Air Vice Marshal Mensah-Larkai asked the retirees to remain ambassadors of the Armed Forces, and that Air Marshal Oje said retirement need not end an officer's service to Ghana.
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  The two publications differ on one name: Onua Online lists Brigadier General Omari John, while Graphic Online gives Omari John Ampadu.

Why it matters for Ghana

The parade shows how the Ghana Armed Forces marks the exit of its most senior officers and what it asks of them afterwards. For serving soldiers and their families in Accra and other garrisons, the speeches restated the standards of conduct expected in the ranks. The departures also open senior posts, though neither publication said who will fill them.