Save Us From Fleecing Officers ? Our Soldiers Cry

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your piece on the rip-off that those we the men in the Ghana Armed Forces are enduring.

As a serving soldier, I want to congratulate you for your courage in publishing that piece. I want to say that all the things you published are very true. In fact, even worse things are happening to us at other missions.

Could you believe that our boys on peacekeeping assignments in Liberia are being made to pay $2.00 (about ?18,000.00) just for the khaki nametag that is sewn on their uniforms? I know this may seem incredible to a lot of people, but it is true. It is happening life, and we are unable to speak because we don?t know who to trust, and the media appears to be on the side of the very people fleecing us.

That is why we commend you for your courage in exposing the rip-off. Please don?t stop at that, there are even worse things going on. Expose all of them. How can anybody justify the sell of some inferior quality tracksuit to soldiers on UNMIL in Liberia for $20,000.00? Yet that is how much we are made to pay for our tracksuits.

Please let the Ghanaian people know that we are being ripped off. Let the authorities act to protect us, they should not wait for our

Even though we know that the authorities would not do anything about your Morale is running low among Ghanaian soldiers serving on Ghanbat61 on Peacekeeping mission in the Middle East over what most of them consider to be ?unorthodox methods being adopted to fleece? them their earnings.

The Lens has received several reports from soldiers serving on Ghanbat61 in the Lebanon of how for the first time in the Peacekeeping history of the Ghana Armed Forces, soldier on Peacekeeping are being made to pay for some of their accoutrements.

The soldiers complain that the Commanding Officer of Ghanbat61, Lt. Col. Musah Wajah, ?has for the first time in the history of the Armed Forces compulsorily sold to every soldier a flash shoulder flag at two dollars per one.?

The soldier complain that T shirts that were hitherto supplied to them free of charge were now being sold to them at five dollars ($5) each, a situation that they consider to be a move to rip them off of their earnings.

The soldiers say they have been compelled to put these matters in the public domain in view of the fact that nobody in authority in the Military appear ready to do anything to correct ?this anomaly, which in our view, if not stopped now would become a dangerous precedent. What else would we be made to pay for in the near future?? the soldiers asked