Maj. Gen. HK anyidoho is a retired army officer in Ghana
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday May 15, 2010
A retired senior military officer, Major-General Henry Kwami Anyidoho has bemoaned the falling standards in the military and called for a ‘forensic audit’ of the performance of the various military training institutions particularly the Ghana Military Academy (GMA).
“The military in the past exhibited high standards but where has the standards gone today”, he queried.
Maj. Gen. Anyidoho was delivering the 50th Golden Jubilee Anniversary Lecture of the GMA under the theme “Ghana Military Academy- Past Present and Future”.
The well attended lecture was the third in a series of lectures lined up by the GMA to mark the golden jubilee celebration.
Maj. Gen. Anyidoho said “in the past the military had no room for tribalism and discrimination but today we are witnessing numerous problems which have the potential to derail the gains made so far.”
He said “whilst on a United Nations assignment in Sudan, I met a lot of Ghanaian officers who have retired prematurely and when I enquired from them they told me the military is no longer what it used to be.”
“Some felt discriminated against while others said they had no god-fathers. If the situation is true then the trend must be reversed without any delay.”
He advised the military authorities not initiate any programme that could sow seeds of discord among the rank and file of the military saying “we should not sow seeds of ethnicity. We either stand together or go down.”
He said the officer corps seems to be losing his/her image before the public despite increased intake into the training institutions saying “we should give fresh voice to ancient values.”
He said the military should not undermine moral considerations when it comes to recruitment saying “we should go back to enforce ethical values to make the military a reputable institution.”
“In the midst of this corruptive environment we should be able to hold our own so that our core values are not eroded. Let us return to base and rethink officer training.”
He said officer cadets should be trained to be professionals in order to uphold high standards, adding “you cannot be a good officer in the unit and be a different officer outside.”
Maj. Gen Anyidoho said the military should be able to correct the erroneous impression that soldiers do not have anything to do with the civilian community.
He said the military should not allow politicians to divide them saying “should we sit down for politicians make us see each other and turn away?”
He said the time has come for the GMA to be given the needed resources and infrastructure to be able to train more officers to serve the nation better.
He said the military has a duty to support the growth of the current democratic dispensation saying “I pray and hope that our country would continue to uphold good governance. The more we work towards it the better for the development of the country.”
He said “we want to see our nation develop so that the citizens can boldly speak their minds and we should not do anything to undermine this effort.”
Brigadier General Francis Asiedu Agyemfrah (Rtd) of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) who chaired the lecture said “there is a problem at hand and we should all work together to find solutions to the problems.”
Also see: www.dailyguideghana.com
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