A damaging report on the Ghana Armed Forces’ (GAF) acquisition of Soviet-era Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), specifically the BTR-70 model, has been submitted to President John Dramani Mahama, raising serious questions about corruption, negligence, and potential criminality at the highest levels of the military.
The summary report sets the stage for either a Military Board of Inquiry or a full-scale criminal investigation by either the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), or the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
The military under the Akufo-Addo administration was reportedly engulfed in large-scale corruption, marked by senseless procurements, inflated pricing, and the acquisition of rusted, inferior, and discarded equipment. Some of the items, particularly the 20 BTR-70 APCs, valued at US$10.5 million, were described as “unserviceable”, having been bought from a military junkyard in the former Soviet Union.
The BTR-70 APCs, purchased from Azerbaijan, were said by military insiders to be dangerously unsuitable for operational deployment. Investigators established that the vehicles were 53 years old at the time of purchase.
In an attempt to conceal their poor condition, the vehicles were reportedly taken to the Base Workshop at Burma Camp, Accra, upon arrival, where they were sprayed with UN peacekeeping colours. President Nana Akufo-Addo subsequently commissioned them before the GAF Acceptance Board had even assessed their operational fitness.
Brigadier General Ziblim Ayorogoh, a former Commissioner of CEPS and a Military Police Officer, led the investigation, interviewing key personnel, including two former Chiefs of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama and General Thomas Oppong Peprah. Insiders told The Herald that the summary report has indicted both men.
Others questioned, included Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh, Major General Richard Djani, and Brigadier General K. K. Kumi, Director-General of Logistics at the Army Headquarters.
The Base Workshop team, the Armoured Brigade Headquarters, and an Accra-based businessman, Alhaji Tafiq, a major supplier to the GAF, were also interrogated.
Military sources suggest that General Oppong Peprah played a significant role in influencing the US$10.5 million procurement, having personally inspected the discarded vehicles in Azerbaijan.
The investigation was triggered by a petition from Ola Durojaiye, also known as Kwame Danquah, following a series of publications earlier this year by The Herald.
After completing interviews with all relevant officers, Brigadier General Ayorogoh submitted his findings to the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General William Agyapong, who reviewed them before forwarding the report to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces.
President Mahama is expected to review the report with his team of experts before deciding whether to establish a full Military Board of Inquiry or initiate a formal criminal investigation through EOCO, the Police CID, NIB, or other investigative authorities.
The case has renewed public concern over procurement practices within the military, highlighting the risks of waste, corruption, and the acquisition of unsafe military equipment.
The armoured vehicles were described as mostly rusted and perforated with gaping holes. Their transmissions had leaked and ceased to function, while the weapons systems malfunctioned. Oil leaks and other defects rendered them unsafe and unfit for any form of military deployment, raising serious questions about the decision to commit US$10.5 million to such a purchase.
UN officers in Sudan, where some of the vehicles were deployed, flagged them as unsuitable for peacekeeping operations and consequently refused to reimburse the Ghana Armed Forces for the equipment used on the mission.
Senior officers, including the former Chief of Defence Staff and other high-ranking personnel who played various roles in the importation of the rusted and immovable vehicles, have been indicted by the investigation, according to The Herald’s military insiders.
President Mahama now faces the decision of whether to convene a full Military Board of Inquiry or order a criminal investigation that could lead to prosecutions in a civilian court.
Alhaji Tafiq has used multiple companies, including Akanni Logistics and Ramelsco Company Ltd, among others, with different registration details and directors, to secure procurement contracts from the GAF.
The Herald’s investigations revealed that he supplied the APCs in question.
Alhaji Tafiq was also behind the 2024 supply of five bulletproof Toyota Land Cruisers meant as retirement benefits for service chiefs. President Mahama has since retrieved the vehicles from the retired senior military officers.
Although Ramelsco Company Ltd had initially won the bid to supply the vehicles for US$1.3 million, the contract was later awarded to Akanni Logistics, which supplied them at US$1,425,000, an excess of US$125,000 per vehicle.
General Oppong Peprah reportedly received a luxurious bulletproof 2023 Lexus LX 600, black in colour, with chassis number JTJPB7CX2P4023225, as a kickback from Tafiq’s company.
Brigadier General Ziblim Bawa Ayorogoh, currently the Deputy Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, is described as a seasoned Military Police Officer. He’d served as Commissioner of CEPS and Provost Marshal.
His sole investigation, which involved direct interviews with all the officers linked to the 53-year-old armoured vehicle acquisition, is now before the Commander-in-Chief.
President Mahama is expected to consult his team before determining whether to establish a full inquiry or refer the case for criminal investigation by EOCO, the Police CID, NIB, or other investigative bodies for possible prosecution.
