I Have Defence Minister In My Pocket

Very reliable sources within the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have hinted that the Defence Minister, General JH Smith, is seriously milking the Ghana Armed and superintending over a serious canker in the service as a whole particularly the Directorate of Engineer Services.

According to sources, an employee of the Ghana Armed Forces has stated in a petition to five important places that the Defence Minister, General JH Smith, has caused one Colonel Samuel Akai-Nettey, the Director of Engineer Services of the Ghana Armed Forces to install a brand new heavy duty generator set in the private house of General JH Smith.

The petitioner, Mr. Emmanuel H Kornyoh, a Chief Quantity Surveyor, made this assertion in a petition dated 28th June 2011 with distribution to very high places including the Office of the President at Osu in Accra.

According to the petitioner, the Director of Engineer Services of the GAF, Col Akai –Nettey obliged to the request of the Minister in order to receive favors of various types including promotion, appointment and inaction on part of the Minister for various forms of malfeasance and short-comings in the GAF. The petitioner, who is said to have very close links with the Castle, the Chief of Staff’s outfit, the National Security Secretariat, party officials, especially the Party Chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei and the General Secretary, Mr. Aseidu Nketiah, stated the following among others:

“Col Akai –Nettey always claimed that he is a very good friend of the current Defence Minister (Gen Henry Smith) and that, he has the Minister in his pocket. He claimed he occasionally invites the Minister to his house to drink and dine together so he has no respect for anybody around him simply because he has the backing of the Minister.

“His assertion might be true because he has been promoted despite his shortfalls. According to Akai –Nettey, he has managed to get a contractor to install a brand new heavy duty generator set in the private house of the Minister for Defence (Gen Henry Smith) as part of his boot-leaking tactics for fovors from the Minister.

“So one wonders how an important institution such as Ghana Armed Forces can be run like this….”

Mr. Kornyoh continued in his petition that the infrastructure of the GAF is in a very bad state as a result of the ineffectiveness of Col Akai –Nettey and the failure of the Minister for Defence.

He cited for example that “the new Warrant Officers’ Married Quarters at Duala lines is in very bad state, the new Burma Camp Sport Complex cannot be used because the positioning of the facilities and court dimensions were all wrong. “All of these happen to our projects because when problems are detected by project supervisors early for correction to be made, Col Akai –Nettey will simply not listen…”

According to the petitioner, all these acts of not getting real value for money and widespread execution of sub-standard projects are happening under the nose of General JH Smith.

He states that “the Minister for Defence, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of Ghana, and who is mandated to take oversight responsibility of the Ministry of Defence as a whole is unfortunately perceived to be superintending over this canker in the Ghana Armed Forces as a whole and the Directorate of Engineer Services in particular”

Sources close to the petitioner also alleged that most contracts for the GAF are imposed on the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General PA Blay by the Minister stressing that aside the Minister’s job he acts as the de facto CDS. Our sources claim that the Minister had always cherished the dream of being appointed the CDS after becoming the Army Commander and has never been happy about the fact that he missed the opportunity of being appointed the CDS before his retirement.