SUMMARY INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATION OF
MISCONDUCT
STATEMENT BY BRIG GEN SAMPSON ADETI
(GH/2025)
1. I
hereby state that I served as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Southern
Command from 21 Jul 2013 till 15 20 Jan 2016. Before assumption of Command,
there was on-going military support to various organisations/authorities such
as the Bank of Ghana (BOG) (OP SAFE), the Forestry Department (OP HALT), Tema
Development Company (OP HALT), Ministry of Transport (OP FLYOVER) and
regional/metropolitan/municipal/district assemblies (OP CALM LIFE). These
authorized activities generated some income for training, administration and
troops’ welfare. I continued to authorize same levels of operational
deployments and assistance to these civil authorities and organisations because
of its benefits to the HQ, units which provided the troops and also the
individuals themselves through receipt of per diem.
2. With
specific reference to BOG, I visited the Bank’s HQ in Accra several times and
all the branches in the Volta and Western Regions where troops were posted on
OP SAFE. I changed the operational focus of the deployment and helped redesign
the security infrastructure at these vital installations. These developments
endeared me to the Management of BOG for our continued support and especially
for my personal engagement. Unfortunately, due to lack of access to some of the
correspondence on the subject, and by virtue of the fact it has been a year, my
memories of specific dates and exact details are a bit hazy.
3. Requests
for assistance during units’ WASSA have become a permanent and common feature
of most units in the Armed Forces. Thus, as part of preparations for 2013 and
2014 WASSA, HQ South Comd wrote to several organisations, especially friends
such as BOG, NIB, TDC and individuals for support, either in cash or kind;
(copies of such correspondence can be obtained from HQ South Comd)
4. After
sometime, HQ S Comd was informed that BOG does not provide financial support
for WASSA. However, it (BOG) advised that a new request is submitted for more
‘tangible’ support. After discussions with some officials whom my staff and I
had been dealing with, a new request for pick-ups for ‘Special Duties’ by the
Office of the GOC was submitted. I had almost forgotten the request when
suddenly, after more than 6 months, I received a special postal delivery,
addressed to me, indicating that our application had been approved. Some BOG
officials whom I had been communicating with suggested that in order not for
the donation to be given very wide publicity because of ‘public opinion’ and
because I had indicated it would be used mostly for ‘Special Duties’, I was to
arrange for collection at its warehouse. Subsequently, the vehicle was
collected from the BOG warehouse at Spintex Road. The documents for the formal
transfer was done exclusively by officials and delivered to the HQ after a
couple of weeks (copy attached)
5. Contrary
to the allegations that are being peddled and given credence, the registration
number and all details remain unchanged. It is therefore untrue that the
vehicle has been registered in my name. The use of my details was a precedent
to execute the transfer of ownership which was done by the transferring
authorities. The vehicle continues to be used for some overall military
‘special operational, security, intelligence and liaison Duties’, when there is
need, in a Pool in the Office of the Chief of Staff. It is also used for
conveying guards to and from my residence after the Service HQ directed the
withdrawal of all guards from Southern Command who had been performing duties
in my residence.
6. It
has to be noted that when you assist an organisation appreciably, perhaps,
exceeding their expectations, they are more likely to acquiesce to you requests
without explicitly insisting on conventions, rules and regulations. It is
important and significant to state that the request and subsequent delivery of
the vehicle took place several months ago and not on the verge of relinquishing
my duties and responsibilities as GOC. Any tacit agreement I had with officials
from BOG over the pick-up was a ‘gentleman’s agreement’; I misunderstood the
arrangement.
7. The
investigations ostensibly, following the Daily Guide publication, are part of
the ‘grand design’ especially over the few months, to malign and discredit me.
There is also a strong suspicion, as indicated by the Daily Guide reporter whom
most people consider ‘bounty hunters’ and would publish anything to discredit
people, that the initial allegation was leveled by GOC Southern Command. His
motives for doing so must be examined especially in the face of several
military issues and concerns being put in the domain of social media.
8. Undoubtedly,
the publication and misconceptions are intended to discredit me especially
after my tenure as GOC. My colleagues must be careful not to disparage and show
outright malice against me, through covert interactions and disclosures to the
media, even if they perceive me as an ‘enemy’ they must ‘eliminate’ at all cost
in order to promote their own agenda.
9. The
subject matter is due to misunderstanding of the issue of the entire
arrangement based upon the circumstances explained above. The vehicle has been
handed to the Office of the Provost Marshall for further action pending final
delivery to HQ South Comd
SK ADETI
Brig Gen
17 June 2016
COS
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