The Herald, has picked up reports from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), that some top Ghana Army officers, are currently being chased to hand over a cash amount running into US$800, 000.
The money, a yearly payment of about US$251,000, was to have been handed over to various commanders of the Ghanaian contingent in the small West African nation; The Gambia, over a three-year period as allowances to the 50-member troops keeping the peace in that country.
Ghana sent a contingent of 205 soldiers to join the ECOWAS Mission in the Gambia (ECOMIG) to remove Yahya Jammeh from power and install elected President Adama Barrow in 2017. It was dubbed “Operation Restore Democracy”.
The money, did not go to the soldiers as they were already being paid by the government of Ghana.
Interestingly, it is reported that successive commanders of the contingent brought down the money from ECOWAS and The Gambia government to Accra, and handed it to one of their superior officers.
He also did not in turn hand it over to the Armed Forces Command.
The names of the senior officers, who have led that operation since it started in The Gambia, have included; Lt Col Awuni, Lt Col Awuku, Lt. Col. Nimo.
They were said to have separately indicated that they handed over the cash to this senior officer upon their return to Ghana from The Gambia.
The ECOWAS officials, were said to have stormed Ghana in the company of a delegation of diplomats from The Gambia.
This was after discovering there had been double payments to the Ghanaian contingent running into hundreds of thousands of dollars, although the US$251,000, was never handed to the soldiers, since they had already been paid by the Ghanaian government.
The Herald, is informed that, a series of meetings is ongoing amongst the top brass of Ghana’s military, The Gambian officials and ECOWAS delegation in an effort to retrieve the money and return it to its owners.
The 3-year payment is said to be in the region of US$800, 000.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, is said to be in the know of this development and helping to retrieve the massive amount from the senior army officer.
Also in the know is Chief of Army Staff, Major General Thomas Oppong Peprah.
“Operation Restore Democracy”, was an ECOWAS intervention by the regional force in The Gambia prompted by the refusal of former President Yahya Jammeh to quit power after losing election on December 1, 2016.
Ghana, initially sent a contingent of 205 soldiers to join ECOMIG and later reduced the number after President Adama Barrow established himself.
ECOWAS, all together had 7,000 troops on the ground by regional leaders, with two jet fighters and two warships.
Following the successful takeover by President Adama Barrow, regional troops got a new mandate which was the stabilization aspect.
They were tasked with providing security for the presidency, cabinet members and key state installations, reinstate confidence between the Gambian security forces and the population and its leaders.
But because of the stabilization of the country, certain aspects of their mandate such as securing cabinet ministers and protecting government installations were left to the Gambian security that has assumed its responsibility to protect the country.