The Ghana Armed Forces and the National Defence Policy: Meeting Contemporary Threats, Challenges and Prospects for National Development

Abstract

The Public Sector space of sovereign states is governed by policies that direct various categories of stakeholders in the attainment of goals of governments. The Defence and Security Sectors of states fall within this category. In this respect, the Ghana Armed Forces, as the lead institution in the Defence Sector, has been assigned by all four Constitutions of post-independent Ghana, the role of protecting the territorial integrity of the state and by extension, the National Interest as well as the security and interests of the citizenry. The Fourth Republican Constitution of 1992, however, stands in sharp contrast to all previous ones in that it has a provision which stipulates that, the Ghana Armed Forces should contribute to national development. Given this historically unique constitutional mandate, the study examined the problem posed by the new mandate in the light of the fact that the assigned developmental duty was neither accompanied by specific operational directives nor an expatiation of what it entails. It is factual that the Ghana Armed Forces has always contributed to national development, albeit passively, whilst discharging its duties under the traditional role. This therefore raises questions about clarity between the tenets of the Ghana National Defence Policy, which is designed to take into consideration the country’s commitments to national, regional, continental, as well as global security, and the developmental mandate of the Ghana Armed Forces as required by the Constitution. The study thus pursued the objectives of ascertaining the viability of the National Defence Policy, how it relates to a fluid contemporary threat landscape, as well as prospects for national development. Guided by the theory of realism, a thematic network qualitative analysis was conducted on both primary and secondary data that were collected from the views of experts, academics and civil society including relevant literature. It was concluded that duty bearers require an in-depth knowledge of the tenets of Ghana’s National Defence Policy to better appreciate their role in a people-centred mandate and its full implications for the traditions, esprit de corps as well as the innovative strategies of the Ghana Armed Forces going into the future. This, by and large, raises questions about the general strategic capability of Ghana’s Defence Sector in the context of the rapidly evolving national and international security challenges. It was observed that, the National Defence Policy has been quite resilient and has satisfactorily met the needs of the state and the defence sector. This notwithstanding and as a living document, there is an urgent need for it to retain its viability, relevance, and dynamism. These findings call for several recommendations including the need to continuously review the National Defence Policy, not only to keep it abreast with the fluid threat, technological, and socio-political landscapes, but to also ascertain its relevance to the state in the discharge of her commitments both locally and internationally. To achieve this, a multi-sectorial and inter-ministerial approach to policymaking was recommended.