Colonel Kwadwo Damoah, former Director, Manpower/Personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, has finally been informed of the naked, ugly truth the media has predicted all this while.
At long last, he has been told that his services would no longer be needed and is being released from the Ghana Armed Forces, true to reports a week ago that plans were afoot to dispose of him.
Interestingly, the exit of the nation’s most popular soldier currently had nothing to do with the Board Of Enquiry (BOI) that was specifically set up a few months ago ostensibly to nail him over recruitment procedures into the armed forces. Instead, the Military Command said it had decided to sacrifice him because the media had written stories about him which embarrassed the military.
Even though Damoah was not cited for soliciting the so-called media reportage, and neither had the Military High Command rebutted those ‘embarrassing’ reports, the hierarchy had in its wisdom asked him to pay for it.
According to a notice of intended release, dated 24th April 2009 and signed by the Chief of Army Staff, Major-General J.N. Adinkrah, Damoah’s services were no longer needed, and he had 14 days within which to respond to the notice.
“It is proposed to recommend your release from the Ghana Armed Forces for the following reasons:
a.   Services no longer required,
b.   Several media publications on you, which have placed the Service unduly into public domain, and thus brought the name of the Armed Forces into disreputeâ€Â, the confidential letter, with reference number, ARMY/6623/ASEC noted.
It referred to AFR Vol 1 (Admin) Sect 15.01 and AFR Vol 1 (Admin) Sect 15.21 and asked the recipient to submit a response within two weeks.
It would be recalled that DAILY GUIDE hinted last week Thursday of a special arrangement being put in place for the solemn release of Damoah, the man who virtually walked into a minefield because he stuck out his neck to introduce regional balance into the military.
The idea seemed not to have gone down well with a section of the military, who apparently saw nothing wrong with the lopsided ethnic and regional imbalance.ÂÂ
This led to the cancellation of the 2008/2009 recruitment of 840 recruits (420 times two batches), and the formation of a BOI to look into the recruitment exercise.
Interestingly, it was the BOI and other attempts on his life that soared his popularity level, making him the most spoken-about in the entire armed forces in recent months.
Before the setting up of the BOI, intelligence reports spotted some clandestine movements and meetings ostensibly to deliberate over the colonel’s fate.
What made the developments fishy were the inconsistencies in the explanations from the office of Colonel Emmanuel Nibo, Head of the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate.
The BOI was shot twice even before it was airborne but rumours had it that the board managed to submit a report to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), which was allegedly leaked to an Accra-based newspaper.
If he fails to submit any response to the letter informing him of the intention to release him within the stipulated time, that may be the end of the career of one of the nation’s finest soldiers.
By Bennett Akuaku