Retiring Chief of Defence Staff gets six months contract

Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Lieutenant General OB Akwa is due for retirement on Saturday, June 20, 2020, but will stay in office until January 2021.

Lt. Gen. Akwa, who will be 65 years – the mandatory retirement age – over the weekend, has been given a six-month contract by President Akufo-Addo, which will elapse at the end of January 2021, according to the DayBreak newspaper.

Lt. Gen Akwa was born on 20 June 1955. He went through various first cycle educational institutions in the Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana before gaining admission into Mpraeso Secondary School in 1968.

On obtaining his General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level), he proceeded to Sekondi College for his Sixth Form Studies from 1973 – 1975, and obtained the General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level).

Lieutenant General Akwa enlisted into the Ghana Military Academy in October 1975 and continued with his training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom, from January 1976 to March 1977.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 24 March 1977 and was first posted to the 1st Battalion of Infantry, as a Platoon Commander.

Before Lieutenant General OB Akwa was appointed the Chief of Army Staff on 1 July 2016 by the Mahama government, he was the Commandant of Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.

Then in February 2017, Major General Akwa, Chief of Army Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, was made the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by President Nana Akufo-Addo and promoted Lieutenant General accordingly.

Source: Class FM