A security analyst, Samuel Owusu, has joined calls for President John Mahama to immediately appoint a substantive Minister for Defence, three months after the helicopter crash that claimed the life of Dr. Edward Omane Boamah.
His remarks come after the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, described the delay as “dangerous and reckless,” warning that it poses serious risks to Ghana’s territorial integrity and national security at a time of growing instability.
Rev. Fordjour has cautioned that leaving the Ministry of Defence under temporary management amounts to a “dangerous gamble,” especially given the country’s increasing security threats.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Joshua Kodjo Mensah on Monday, October 27, Mr. Owusu emphasized that the Defence Ministry is too critical to operate without a substantive leader.
He warned that the absence of a full minister could stall key national and international security decisions.
“The Defence Ministry is very much instrumental in the defence of the South. Fundamentally, the nation’s spirit, I mean the sanity of the nation, in and outside, largely hinges on how the Defence Ministry operates. So I agree with him to the extent that there are a lot of pending issues and some of them require decisions that have to be made,” he said.
Mr. Owusu noted that without a substantive minister, important military and diplomatic engagements could be delayed, affecting Ghana’s external operations and peacekeeping roles.
“Most of the things on the table might be delaying, because given the fact that the Ghana army plays a lot of operational roles outside the country—peacekeeping, external intelligence, certain decisions, diplomats coming—so it makes the Ministry very much sensitive. And I call it the spirit of the nation that resides in them, because they defend us, they hold the territorial integrity of the country,” he explained.
He urged the President to act swiftly to fill the vacancy, describing the move as essential for effective national defence management and policy continuity.
“I think it’s a good call that this is the time for the President to make a substantive arrangement so that decisions can be implemented and projects rolled out, and we have a firm grip of how we are protecting our territory,” Mr. Owusu added.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
