Ghana’s Military Is Broke

The Herald has picked very disturbing signals from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), suggesting various departments in the military are being cash starved by the Ministry of Finance, therefore suppliers of goods and providers of service are not getting their monies.

Badly affected The Herald learnt, is the Department of Public Relations (DPR), where the Finance Ministry has abandoned the rules for releasing resources, making it so difficult for the department to pay its clients.

The DPR, this paper was told only gets GH¢5,000 a month released into its account.

The Herald came across the situation when it became clear that the DPR for the first time was unable to settle newspaper subscription fees; a debt which in the past did not go beyond December 20, each year.

“There is a problem; the money does not flow from the Ministry of Finance as it was before. I can’t understand this problem”, one army officer at DPR, told The Herald.

The officer went on “my brother, you will be surprised that GAF Public Relations owe a total of GH¢44,182 to the print media for 2011. There are other outstanding bills to pay other clients”.

The DPR, is said to have recently wrote a damning letter to the Finance Department (DFC) of the Ghana Armed Forces to solve this embarrassing problem.

The cash situation comes on the heels of claims that some unscrupulous senior military officers had refused to pay food suppliers to the GAF, although they had collected the monies from the Ministry of Finance to clear the debts.

This situation is fueling claims amongst the rank and file of the military that the senior officers are investing the said funds in treasure bills, and are criminally pocketing the profits accruing from the investment.

Meanwhile, The Herald has also been told that a new Department has been created at the Ghana Armed Force General Headquarters (GHQ) in Burma Camp headed by Brigadier General Oppong-Otchere.

It is called the Inspector General Department of the Ghana Armed Forces. It is to monitor a lot of things, like; items purchased, operational budgets, troops, and how armed forces monies are used among other things.

It has been described as “a very interesting, but very sensitive department.