Ministry to relocate GAF's properties-Affected by new developments

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2-09-08

THE Ministry of Defence is in the process of relocating properties of the Ghana Armed Forces close to which public or private structures have now been built.
The move, according to the ministry, is to relocate such assets of all the garrisons affected, to enable the ministry and the Armed Forces to derive maximum use or benefits from them.
“The process will be carried out in accordance with laid-down procedure, which has been formulated to ensure clear, transparent and candid transaction, including thorough deliberation by an internal committee, the prior knowledge approval or consent of the High Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Minister of Defence and finally the Armed Forces Council,” a statement signed on behalf of the Minister of Defence by the Chief Director of the ministry, Mr E.F. Ofosu-Appeah, said.
The statement was in reaction to a letter written by Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Retd), a former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), concerning the proposed sale of the No. 1 Roman Ridge official residence of the Chief of Defence Staff.
Brigadier General Nunoo-Mensah, in a personal letter to the Ministry of Defence, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, said he had the information on radio and drove to the Ministry of Defence to check whether or not it was true.
“It was confirmed to me that it was absolutely true that the decision had been taken to sell off this very important edifice of the Ghana Armed Forces to a private property developer.
“As a former Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, I was horrified, to say the least, to hear that the official residence of the Chief of Defence Staff was going to be sold and no alternative arrangement had been made to provide the CDS with a fitting residence,” the letter said.
Brigadier General Nunoo-Mensah had expressed the belief that No. 1 Roman Ridge was chosen to be the residence of the CDS as a result of its prime location and the huge area it occupied, adding that the CDS received a “large number of people, including students of the Royal College of Defence Studies from the United Kingdom, the Indian National Defence College and many others from across the globe”.
However, the statement from the Ministry assured the general public and the dedicated personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces that no decision had been taken by any person or authority to sell any property or assets of the Ghana Armed Forces, including the No. 1 Roman Ridge.
“Any statement to the contrary by any person is speculative,” the statement explained.