Kofi Ampeah Woode
Ghana Armed Forces’ (GAF) logistics brigade – the Support Services Brigade Group (SP SVCS BDE GP) – has seen its Commander – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) John Agyakwa, hand over Command to Brig Gen Selassie Gagakuma, to take up appointment as the Defence Adviser (DA) to the Ghana High Commission in the United Kingdom.
At a Handing/Taking Over ceremony at the Headquarters, SP SVCS BDE GP, Medo Lines, Burma Camp, on Friday 10 March, 2023, the Chief of Staff (COS), General Headquarters (GHQ) – Major General (Maj Gen) Nicholas Peter Andoh, supervised the brief change of authority.
The COS was of high commendation for the outgone Commander – who assumed command on 13 August 2021 – whom he described as not given to complaining, despite scarce availability of logistics support to him, but delivering his tasks, and holding his Brigade together.
He said the support Brig Gen Agyakwa’s brigade received during his tenure was quite marginal, and needs to increase, and that it was his quest to have the needed capacity and support to be able to better support the incoming Commander.
General Andoh said that there used to be the convention of appointing Infantry Officers as Commanders to the Brigade, until Brig Gen Agyakwa, from the Logistics Corps, was appointed out of convention. He is adjudged to have lived up to expectations of Ghana’s Military High Command (MHC), for which reason, a highly skilled and experienced logistician has been appointed in his stead.
The COS then turned to all Commanders of the twenty-two Units that form the Brigade who were there gathered, and extolled them for supporting the Brigade to deliver: “You are the people holding the Armed Forces, because the Armed Forces cannot move without appropriate logistics; you are the backbone of the Armed Forces. I want to say that your roles in the Armed Forces are highly appreciated and recognized”.
He said that apart from the logistics support, operationally, the brigade had featured positively in several fields.
General Andoh urged all Commanders to come up with innovative ways in carrying out their respective duties, in the midst of difficulties, adding that “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. This is the time that we have to show how tough we are, of course, the Armed Forces has trained us to be tough, and so we will”.
Newly appointed Command Logistics Officer (CLO) for the Northern Command – Colonel Francis Bannerman, who until his new appointment, was General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) at the Brigade, was singled out for high praise, by both the COS and the outgone Commander, for his hard work, loyalty, and for exceptionally coordinating and managing all tasks and activities of the brigade.
SP SVCS BDE GP is a unique formation with 22 Units under Command. As a logistics brigade, the Units under Command have their respective specialist and technical responsibilities to perform, in addition to the numerous tasks the Military High Command gives them, and are expected to perform diligently.
Units under SP SVCS BDE GP: Arakan Medical Center, Armed Forces Central Band (AFCB), Armed Forces Fire Service (AFFS), Armed Forces Printing Press (AFPP), Armed Forces Veterinary Services (AF VET SVCS), Base Ammunition Depot (BAD), Base Ordnance Depot (BOD), Base Supply Depot (BSD), Base Workshop (B/WKSP), Defence Mechanical Transport Battalion (DEF MT BN), Duala Medical Center, 49 Engineer (49 ENGR REGT).
The rest are; Forces Pay Regiment (FPR), Forces Senior High Technical School (FSHTS), 5 Garrison Education Centre (5 GEC), General Headquarters (Camp), Ghana Armed Forces Institute (GAFI), Ghana Military Police (GMP HQ), HQ, SP SVCS BDE (CAMP), Movement Control (MOVCON) 1 Forces & Movement Unit (1FMU), MOVCON (5 FMU), and 1 Signal Regiment (1 SIG REGT).
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
