By William
Yaw Owusu
Monday
October 08, 2018
Major General Sampson Adeti, the former Chief of
Staff at General Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) at Burma Camp,
who is on leave prior to retirement, has been made the head of security for former
President John Mahama’s Campaign Team.
The security coordinator of the Mahama Campaign Team
is said to be moving with the former President Mahama, who is campaigning to
lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 presidential
election.
He was seen in Tamale during the former president’s
recent visit and reports suggested he had a serious clash with a powerful
member of the Mahama Campaign Team.
DAILY
GUIDE‘s checks revealed that the army chief has started
his leave prior to retirement but was using the period to campaign for
ex-President Mahama which is against military rules.
Technically, he is still a serving officer and is
reportedly still occupying his official residence at Burma Camp in Accra which
makes his current occupation a breach of military standards.
He has occasionally been seen in convoy of
opposition NDC which enter his residence in clear breach of military rules with
blaring sirens.
General Adeti, who had been tipped to become Army
Commander had John Mahama been retained, is among some senior military officers
who have taken cover under the umbrella since NDC lost power.
Immediately the NDC lost the elections, the same
general allegedly lobbied vigorously for an ambassadorial post, claiming that
he had nothing to do with the NDC and traced his roots to Nsawam and not the
Volta Region.
Attempts to reach him for comments at press time
were unsuccessful.
Missing
Pick-Up
This is same army officer who was cited in a car
stealing scandal while serving as General Officer Commanding South Command at
Teshie.
The general, who was the ‘darling boy’ of the previous
NDC government, was indicted for allegedly appropriating a Nissan Hard-Body Double-Cabin
vehicle donated to the Southern Command of the Ghana Army by the Bank of Ghana
(BoG).
The cover of the army chief in the alleged stealing
was blown by a request made by Adeti’s successor, Brigadier M. Whajah, GOC,
Southern Command, to the BoG for operational support.
Brigadier M. Whajah was informed that the bank
donated a pickup to the command not long ago.
With no trace of the vehicle – registered GN 4240-15
– in the inventories of the Southern Command, the new officer called for more
details which led to a visit to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA)
for the registration details and the custodian of the vehicle.
It turned out that General Adeti was keeping vehicle
in his garage on the blind side of the army.
Killing
the Investigation
Despite the damning report, Major General Adeti, who
was then a Brigadier General, was promoted by the previous NDC administration
under President Mahama – the Commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to
the rank of Major General, action which succeeded in killing the investigation
into the matter because the officer who did the investigations had become Adeti’s
subordinate and technically a superior cannot be investigated by an officer
lower in rank.
The probing officer was subsequently transferred to
the Ghana Mission in the United States in order to cover up the probe.
The report found out that the Adeti had breached
military standards in respect of donated items to the Ghana Armed Forces.
Despite the revelation, he continued to be in the
good books of the government; the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) who
commissioned the investigation Major General R.K. Opoku Adusei, was retired
from the military unceremoniously.
When the general was asked to explain himself, he
rather chose to attack the journalist from DAILY GUIDE who broke the story,
calling him a ‘bounty hunter.’
Preliminary
Report
COAS’s preliminary investigations had found Brig Gen
Adeti to have dishonestly appropriated the vehicle.
“The fact that he drove the vehicle straight from
the Bank of Ghana to his Juba Villas residence without informing neither HQ
Southern Command nor Army HQ and using his residential number, personal phone
and e-mail address to complete the transfer of ownership and changing the
colour of the vehicle from white to dark grey were all indicative of his
intention to usurp the vehicle,” the COAS observed in the report.
He was also criticized for deliberately leaving no
traces of all correspondences and documents in respect of the said vehicle.
Disciplinary
Action
The report recommended that the General suffer
disciplinary action for dishonest appropriation of the said vehicle contrary to
Section 52 of the Ghana Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105).
The misconduct, according to the report, constituted
a breach of trust in respect of his position as a superior commander, contrary
to Section 54 (a) of the Ghana Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105).
Invaluable
Service
Initially he made the whole issue appear like the
vehicle was given to him for his ‘invaluable’ services to the Central Bank – a
claim which was immediately debunked.
Portions of the report- ‘Summary Investigations into
allegations of misconduct, involving Brigadier General SK Adeti, said the
stories which hit the media “generated a lot negative interest and social media
comments nationwide and among troops at GAF. Some of the comments impugned the
lack of integrity of Brig Gen SK Adeti and the Ghana Armed Forces hierarchy.
The Military High Command was further challenged to investigate the matter and
take appropriate disciplinary action should the matter published in the
newspapers be found to be true.”
Unexplained
Reasons
The report had found that “for unexplained reasons,
all correspondences and documents pertaining to the request, approval and
donation of Nissan Pickup reg no GN 4240 15 to HQ S/C have been removed or
vanished from all files at HQ S/Comd and do not exist on any file or office in
GAF. This case of missing documents is contrary to Section 250 of the Criminal
Offences Act 1960 and Section 54 (a) of the Ghana Armed Forces Act 1962 (Act
105).”
Brig Adeti, in the course of the raging controversy,
handed over the vehicle to the Provost Marshal on 18th June, 2016
with the explanation that he was doing so out of his own volition.
He had earlier stated that he did not know the
location of the spare key and documents covering the said pickup.
Another critical portion of the report stated, “The
act or conduct of Brig Gen SK Adeti in declining to disclose or surrender the
said vehicle at the time it was donated, but rather to decide to do so on 18
June, 16 after publications in the press on 10 and 14 June, 16 respectively and
after the Army HQ Convening Order for a Summary Investigation on 17 June, 16;
is prejudicial to good order and discipline contrary to Section 54 of the Ghana
Armed Forces Act 1962 (Act 105).”
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