Kofi Ampeah Woode
Pursuant to a public directive by the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), and President of Ghana, to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Military High Command, GAF has initiated processes for the grant of a Presidential Charter, for the establishment of a full National Defence University (NDU).
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of GAF – Vice Admiral (V/Adm) Seth Amoama, made the revelation when he delivered a speech as the Guest of Honour, at the official opening ceremony of the maiden Course of the new National College of Defence Studies (NCDS), on Thursday 30 November, 2023, at Burma Camp, in Accra.
Ghana’s Defence Chief – Admiral Amoama, said the Charter for NDU, will be based on existing institutions of higher education within GAF, being the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Ghana Military Academy (GMA) and the NCDS and their accompanying infrastructure and campuses.
He continued to say that, the idea of having a strategic level training institution, has been on the drawing board for a long time, however, a bold decision was taken in 2022, to initiate the establishment of the NDU and a Defence College, which was followed by a policy statement made during the 2022 West Africa Soldiers Social Activities (WASSA) of GAF, by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He intimated that, once the NDU is granted a Presidential Charter, the NCDS will operate as one of the Colleges under the Defence University.
In partial fulfilment of Section 19 (1&2) of Act 1023 of Ghana’s Parliament, the NCDS has been granted institutional and program accreditations by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and established, in fulfilment of the Commander-in-Chief of GAF’s directives, and is being mentored by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
