Kofi Ampeah Woode
Seventy-six (76) Junior Officers from 7 African militaries, have graduated from the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Junior Division Course 82, successfully passing and attaining the required standards to earn the Junior Staff Course qualification of ‘jsc’.
The course which assembled on 2nd August 2024, but commenced lectures on 6th August, 2024, had its graduation ceremony on Friday 20 December 2024, at the Hamidu Hall, GAFCSC, Otu Barracks, Teshie, Accra, and the Chief Guest as Major General (Maj Gen) Nii Carl Coleman (Rtd).
The prestigious military college’s 82nd Junior Staff Course cohort comprised of one Officer each from Cameroon, Liberia, and Uganda, two from Sierra Leone, three from Botswana, seven from Nigeria, and sixty-one from Ghana’s Army, Navy, and Air Force.
GAFCSC Junior Division (JD) students are trained to perform staff functions by developing their leadership, analytical and communication skills, while providing them a foundation for their subsequent career development, thus, only students who are able to prove their ability per the course standard, are awarded the symbol ‘jsc’ – which compares severally with similar standards of militaries around the globe.
The 82nd course package had an experiential environmental study tour of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, to conduct research into some existing challenges confronting the development of the region.
The study covered six thematic areas, which specifically looked at addressing the farmer-herder conflict for enhanced security, assessing the impact of illegal mining to enhance security and sustainable development, and assessing the impact of land administration to enhance socio-economic development.
Other areas of study were; assessing the agro-processing potentials on food security to enhance economic development, and addressing the impact of road traffic accidents on the socio-economic development.
Most of the non-military lectures on national and international issues during the course were handled by lecturers from the University of Ghana (UG), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Institute of the Local Government Studies (ILGS), selected Ghanaian state agencies and security services, and some public and private organizations.
There was the Internal Security and Counter-Insurgency phase of the course which culminated into the exercise codenamed “EX OMBUDSMAN”, and had added participants from the Ghana Policing Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Narcotics Control Commission, National Security Secretariat, and the National Investigation Bureau.
At the graduation ceremony, the Commandant, GAFCSC – Maj Gen Matthew Kweku Essien (Ing) honoured the college’s retiring Dean of the Faculty of Academic Affairs – Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, for his distinguished career, outstanding dedication and service to GAFCSC.
Dr Antwi-Danso joined GAFCSC in 1998 after his return from America, and established and run the Academic Faculty of GAFCSC, till it now runs 2 Masters Programs, another with the Junior Division, and a PhD program.
The Commandant also presented honoraria of plaques and citations to persons who have aided the college to deliver on its mandate, variously. They were;
Chief of the Army Staff, Ghana Army – Maj Gen Bismarck Kwasi Onwona; Chief of the Air Staff, Ghana Air Force – Air Vice Marshal Frederick Kwasi Asare Bekoe; Mr Hussein Jaber – INAMAR Ltd; Mr Kwasi Serebuor – PARAGON HOMES; Mr Amadu Musa – SUN ELECTRONICS; Alhaji Abdul Aziz Razak Issahaku – RAISBA Ltd; Mr Jeffrey Ofusuhene Appenteng – DE MARGO INTERIOR CONTRACTORS; Mr Moses Kabduri – ACE BUILDERS HUB; Mr Festus Mawuli Kluvitse – GEOCOM Ltd.
At the Awards; Captain (Capt) Desmond Cyril Kludze won the OVERALL BEST STUDENT and BEST ARMY STUDENT; Capt A Abdul-Madjeed won 2nd BEST STUDENT; Maj Mohammed Tijani won the 3rd BEST STUDENT and BEST ASSISTANT COMMANDANT’S PAPER; Maj Momodou Bah won BEST ALLIED STUDENT and 3rd BEST COMMANDANT’s PAPER;
The rest are; Maj Bangru Chaikalisa Kaisara won 2nd BEST COMMANDANT’s PAPER; Squadron Leader (Sqdn Ldr) Cynthia Doreen AWUSI-NTI won the EVERARD AWARD; Lieutenant Commander Henry Nana Odei Ofori-Duodu won the BEST NAVY STUDENT; Sqdn Ldr Emmanuel Tettey Okan won the BEST AIR FORCE STUDENT; LEADERSHIP CASE STUDY was won by Syndicate 1 led by Maj Collins Gomedo
Dignitaries present at the ceremony included the Deputy Commandant, GAFCSC – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) Albert Kwadwo Dawohoso; Assistant Commandant, Senior Division – Air Commodore Thomas Nii Fio Okai; Assistant Commandant, Junior Division – Brig Gen Barima Brako Owusu; Commander, Army Training Command – Brig Gen Woseadzikpo Kweku Parbey; Representative of Rector, GIMPA – Dr Yaw Appiah-Marfo, amongst many.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
